The Associations of Psychologic and Physiologic Manifestations of Parental Stress in Critical Congenital Heart Disease.

Background: The primary objective of this exploratory, feasibility study was to examine the relationships of self-reported perceived stressors and psychological stress responses with measures of the biomarker cortisol in parents of infants hospitalized after neonatal cardiac surgery for critical congenital heart disease (cCHD). Methods: This was a prospective, cross-sectional study of 28 biological mother-father dyads of neonates with cCHD using consecutive enrollment. In the postoperative period after neonatal cardiac surgery, parents provided awakening and diurnal saliva samples and self-report measures on stress, anxiety, depression, dyadic adjustment, and perceived severity of illness of their neonate. Results: Evaluable data, including salivary cortisol samples, were obtained for 27 of the 28 dyads enrolled in the study. Compared to fathers, mothers exhibited significantly higher mean cortisol values at wakeup (p = .032), 30-minute post-wakeup (p = .024), and bedtime (p = .010) timepoints. Anxiety and depressive symptoms were both significant predictors of awakening cortisol measures. Depressive symptoms were also a predictor of diurnal cortisol (p < .05). Stress arising from infant appearance and behavior was found to significantly predict cortisol awakening response (p = .0403). Conclusions: Findings suggest that cortisol may be an important biomarker in the examination of parent stress in the pediatric cardiac intensive care unit (PCICU), serving as a foundation for future study in this area. Furthermore, we have provided preliminary evidence of feasibility of including saliva collection in studies of highly stressed parents in a challenging environment.