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Open Access Publications from the University of California

Scholarly Works (2 results)

  • Thesis
  • Peer Reviewed
UC San Diego Electronic Theses and Dissertations (2021)

Purpose: To determine if the COVID-19 pandemic was associated with changing trends in maternal depression, anxiety and stress levels among lactating women compared to pre-pandemic.Methods: Data originated from the UC San Diego Mommy’s Milk Study of breastfeeding mothers residing in the U.S or Canada (2016-2021). Participants were interviewed and completed a self-administered Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS), Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) and State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) questionnaire after childbirth during the time they were breastfeeding. Interrupted times-series analyses using regression models were used to investigate the change in different samples of women over time in EPDS, STAI and PSS-10 scores following the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. All time points prior to March 1, 2020 were considered the “pre-COVID19” time period, and time points from March 1, 2020 and on were considered the “COVID19” time period. Models were adjusted for seasonality, and in sensitivity analyses, maternal parity and income. Results: During the 41 months prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, mean scores on all three measures remained consistent. Following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, mean scores on depression (b = 0.432, p = 0.003) and stress inventories (b = 0.731, p = 0.002) increased in a linear fashion in each month. Anxiety scores followed a similar pattern, but it did not reach statistical significance (p = 0.07). Results were essentially unchanged when adjusting for seasonality or maternal covariates. Conclusion: The increase in maternal depression and stress scores have public health implications and suggest that breastfeeding mothers are at high risk for mental health issues during the COVID-19 pandemic. These findings show the need for increased screening for postpartum women during the COVID-19 pandemic, and increased availability of mental health resources for postpartum women during the COVID-19 pandemic. Research has shown other catastrophic events affect maternal mental health in similar ways. (Harville, 2009) Therefore, beyond the COVID-19 pandemic, the findings of this study can be used for economic downfalls, other viral or bacteria outbreaks, and even natural disaster response strategies.

    Cover page: Change in Maternal Mental Health Trends Among Lactating Women during the COVID-19 Pandemic
    • Article
    • Peer Reviewed
    UC San Francisco Previously Published Works (2024)
    BACKGROUND: A better understanding of treatment progression and recovery in pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) infectious disease is crucial. This study analyzed longitudinal serum samples from pulmonary TB patients undergoing interventional treatment to identify surrogate markers for TB-related outcomes. METHODS: Serum that was collected at baseline and 8, 17, 26, and 52 weeks from 30 TB patients experiencing durable cure were evaluated and compared using a sensitive LC-MS/MS proteomic platform for the detection and quantification of differential host protein signatures relative to timepoint. The global proteome signature was analyzed for statistical differences across the time course and between disease severity and treatment groups. RESULTS: A total of 676 proteins showed differential expression in the serum over these timepoints relative to baseline. Comparisons to understand serum protein dynamics at 8 weeks, treatment endpoints at 17 and 26 weeks, and post-treatment at 52 weeks were performed. The largest protein abundance changes were observed at 8 weeks as the initial effects of antibiotic treatment strongly impacted inflammatory and immune modulated responses. However, the largest number of proteome changes was observed at the end of treatment time points 17 and 26 weeks respectively. Post-treatment 52-week results showed an abatement of differential proteome signatures from end of treatment, though interestingly those proteins uniquely significant at post-treatment were almost exclusively downregulated. Patients were additionally stratified based upon disease severity and compared across all timepoints, identifying 461 discriminating proteome signatures. These proteome signatures collapsed into discrete expression profiles with distinct pathways across immune activation and signaling, hemostasis, and metabolism annotations. Insulin-like growth factor (IGF) and Integrin signaling maintained a severity signature through 52 weeks, implying an intrinsic disease severity signature well into the post-treatment timeframe. CONCLUSION: Previous proteome studies have primarily focused on the 8-week timepoint in relation to culture conversion status. While this study confirms previous observations, it also highlights some differences. The inclusion of additional end of treatment and post-treatment time points offers a more comprehensive assessment of treatment progression within the serum proteome. Examining the expression dynamics at these later time periods will help in the investigation of relapse patients and has provided indicative markers of response and recovery.
      Cover page: Longitudinal analysis of host protein serum signatures of treatment and recovery in pulmonary tuberculosis.
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