ArticlePaediatric and perinatal epidemiology2013
Preconception biomarkers of allostatic load and racial disparities in adverse birth outcomes: the Bogalusa Heart Study.
Article in Paediatric and perinatal epidemiology, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT00005129 (The Bogalusa Heart Study), which is not on this map. Cited by 20 papers, 3 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.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
The Bogalusa Heart Study
Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Prenatal allostatic load and adverse pregnancy outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis.PeerJ · 2026Pooled it
- Allostatic Load in Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Review.Psychotherapy and psychosomatics · 2023Pooled it
- Allostatic Load Measurement: A Systematic Review of Reviews, Database Inventory, and Considerations for Neighborhood Research.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Pooled it
- Mid-Trimester Allostatic Load and Spontaneous Preterm Birth in a Cohort of Pregnant Women Living with HIV in Zambia.Maternal and child health journal · 2025Trial
- Allostatic load, a measure of chronic physiological stress, is associated with pregnancy outcomes, but not fertility, among women with unexplained infertility.Human reproduction (Oxford, England) · 2018Trial
- Allostatic Load, Neighborhood Disadvantage, and Birth Outcomes.Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities · 2026Article
- Stress, Well-Being, and Reproduction in Wildlife.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2026Review
- Disparities in Allostatic Load Among Different Races: A Comprehensive Scoping Review.Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities · 2025Review
- The impact of maternal chronic stress on spontaneous preterm birth: evidence from a Chinese cohort study.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2025Article
- The role of allostatic load in adverse pregnancy outcomes: a multisystem, developmental perspective.Frontiers in global women's health · 2025Review
- Biomarkers of pre-pregnancy allostatic load and subsequent adverse birth outcomes.SSM - population health · 2022Article
- Racial Differences in the Risk of Prenatal Depression Among Women Experiencing Childhood and Adult Stressors.Maternal and child health journal · 2022Article
- Antepartum Depression and Preterm Birth: Pathophysiology, Epidemiology, and Disparities due to structural racism.Current psychiatry reports · 2021Review
- Acknowledging and Addressing Allostatic Load in Pregnancy Care.Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities · 2021Review
- Racial Differences in the Biochemical Effects of Stress in Pregnancy.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Article
- Exploring the Experience of Life Stress Among Black Women with a History of Fetal or Infant Death: a Phenomenological Study.Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities · 2017Article
- Explaining racial and ethnic inequalities in postpartum allostatic load: Results from a multisite study of low to middle income woment.SSM - population health · 2016Article
- Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Measures of Self-reported Psychosocial States and Traits during Pregnancy.American journal of perinatology · 2016Observational
- Allostatic Load and Preterm Birth.International journal of molecular sciences · 2015Review
- The unique contribution of gendered racial stress to depressive symptoms among pregnant Black women.Women's health (London, England)Article
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6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundLarge disparities in adverse birth outcomes persist between African American and white women in the US despite decades of research, policy, and public health intervention. Allostatic load is an index of dysregulation across multiple physiologic systems that results from chronic exposure to stress in the physical and socio-cultural environment which may lead to earlier health deterioration among racially or socio-economically disadvantaged groups. The purpose of this investigation was to examine relationships between maternal biomarkers of allostatic load prior to conception and the occurrence of preterm birth and small for gestational age infants among a cohort of white and African American women participants in the Bogalusa Heart Study.
methodsData from women participants were linked to the birth record of their first-born infant. Principal components analysis was used to construct an index of allostatic load as a summary of the weighted contribution of nine biomarkers representing three physiologic domains: cardiovascular, metabolic, and immune systems. A series of Poisson regression models based on samples ranging from 1467 to 375 women were used to examine race, individual biomarkers of allostatic load, and quartiles of the allostatic load index as predictors of preterm birth (n = 150, 10.2%) and small for gestational age (n = 135, 9.2%).
resultsThere was no evidence of a relationship between maternal preconception allostatic load and either adverse birth outcome in this sample. Further, there was no evidence of effect modification of by race or education.
conclusionsMore work is needed in understanding the biological mechanisms linking social inequities to racial disparities in adverse birth outcomes.
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