[Activation of certain stress axes in spontaneous and surgical deliveries in healthy women and in women with late gestoses].

Within the framework of the stress theory the authors investigated total cortisol levels in the maternal serum during spontaneous delivery and 24 hours after delivery in 20 women half of whom had a non-complicated pregnancy and half had an EPH gestosis. They investigated also cortisol levels in 20 women during delivery by Caesarean section; half of them had a normal pregnancy and half had suffered from gestosis. At the onset of delivery and operation resp. women with gestosis had significantly elevated cortisol levels, as compared with healthy women. During spontaneous delivery the levels of this hormone had a rising trend with the peak during delivery of the foetus and return to pre-delivery values after 24 hours. During Caesarean section the cortisol levels rose only insignificantly and in gestoses they declined already at the end of the operation. In the discussion the authors draw attention to the activation of the stress axes during delivery and attempt to explain the elevated cortisol levels during delivery and in late gestoses.