ArticlePsychopharmacology2011
Prenatal alcohol exposure and cortisol activity in 19-month-old toddlers: an investigation of the moderating effects of sex and testosterone.
Article in Psychopharmacology, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 35 citations in OpenAlex.
- A Review on the Vagus Nerve and Autonomic Nervous System During Fetal Development: Searching for Critical Windows.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2021Pooled it
- A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Investigating the Relationship between Exposures to Chemical and Non-Chemical Stressors during Prenatal Development and Childhood Externalizing Behaviors.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Pooled it
- From teratogens to trajectories: Integrating teratology and Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD) frameworks for a new take on fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD).Neurobiology of stress · 2026Article
- Impact of Prenatal Alcohol Exposure on the Cerebral Circulation: Potential Implications for Stroke.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2026Review
- Association of prenatal alcohol exposure and prenatal depressive symptoms with offspring hair cortisol in childhood and adolescence.BMC psychiatry · 2025Article
- Effects of prenatal alcohol and delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol exposure via electronic cigarettes on motor development.Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research · 2022Article
- Impact of Alcohol Abuse on Susceptibility to Rare Neurodegenerative Diseases.Frontiers in molecular biosciences · 2021Review
- Role of corticosterone in anxiety- and depressive-like behavior and HPA regulation following prenatal alcohol exposure.Progress in neuro-psychopharmacology & biological psychiatry · 2019Article
- Sex-specific deficits in biochemical but not behavioral responses to delay fear conditioning in prenatal alcohol exposure mice.Neurobiology of learning and memory · 2018Article
- Review
- Dysregulation of the cortisol diurnal rhythm following prenatal alcohol exposure and early life adversity.Alcohol (Fayetteville, N.Y.) · 2016Article
- β-Endorphin neuronal transplantation into the hypothalamus alters anxiety-like behaviors in prenatal alcohol-exposed rats and alcohol-non-preferring and alcohol-preferring rats.Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research · 2015Article
- Stress and the HPA axis: role of glucocorticoids in alcohol dependence.Alcohol research : current reviews · 2012Review
- Early life stress and psychopharmacology.Psychopharmacology · 2011Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 6 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
Abstract
rationaleEarly exposure to stress and teratogenic substances have an impact on brain structures involved in cognition and mental health. While moderate-to-high levels of prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) have repeatedly been associated with long-term neurodevelopmental deficits, no consensus has yet been reached on the detrimental effects of low-to-moderate PAE on the children's functioning, including the limbic-hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis.
objectivesThe study aims to examine the association between low PAE and cortisol response to unfamiliar situations in 19-month-old children and to determine whether this association was moderated by sex and testosterone levels.
methodsInformation regarding PAE, cortisol response to unfamiliar situations, and testosterone activity was available in a total of 130 children participating to the Québec Newborn Twin Study (Montréal, QC, Canada). Mother alcohol consumption during pregnancy was assessed via a semistructured interview conducted when the children were 6 months of age. The contribution of prenatal and postnatal confounds were examined.
resultsDisrupted patterns of cortisol activity were observed only in PAE males. Testosterone tended to be negatively associated with the cortisol response, but not for PAE males, suggesting an altered sensitivity to the inhibitory effects of testosterone in these participants.
conclusionsLow levels of PAE were associated with disrupted cortisol activity, and males may be at higher risk. These findings challenge the existence of a "safe level" of alcohol consumption during pregnancy and have public health implications.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.