Effects of pregnancy and delivery on serum concentrations of Clara Cell Protein (CC16), an endogenous anticytokine: lower serum CC16 is related to postpartum depression

There is now some evidence that lower serum concentrations of Clara Cell Protein (CC16) are related to stress-induced anxiety, psychoses and major depression. This study was developed to determine whether serum CC16 is lowered in the early puerperium and whether Postnatal Depression and Postnatal Blues are associated with lower levels of serum CC16, Serum concentrations of CC16 were assayed in 17 non-pregnant women and in 98 pregnant women before delivery and 1 and 3 days after delivery. On each occasion the parturients completed the State version of the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and the Zung Depression Rating Scale (ZDS). Serum CC16 was significantly lower in pregnant women, at the end of pregnancy as well as 1 and 3 days after delivery, than in the non-pregnant women. Serum CC16 was somewhat, although significantly, higher 1 and 3 days after delivery than before delivery. Parturients who developed a postpartum depression had significantly lower serum CC16 concentrations than women who did not. There were no significant differences in serum CC16 between the puerperal women whose STAI or ZDS scores increased in the puerperium and those whose scores did not. It is concluded that in puerperal women there is a decreased anti-inflammatory capacity in the serum, in part caused by lowered serum CC16, and that the latter may be related to the development of postpartum depression. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.