ReviewWorld journal of psychiatry2012
Childhood stressful events, HPA axis and anxiety disorders.
Review in World journal of psychiatry, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 95 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
95 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Stressful life events as precipitants of obsessive-compulsive disorder: a systematic review and meta-analysis.CNS spectrums · 2025Pooled it
- Polysomnographic changes of obsessive-compulsive disorder: evidence from case-control studies.Sleep & breathing = Schlaf & Atmung · 2024Pooled it
- Psychological trauma as a transdiagnostic risk factor for mental disorder: an umbrella meta-analysis.European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2023Pooled it
- Movement disorders in patients with Rett syndrome: A systematic review of evidence and associated clinical considerations.Psychiatry and clinical neurosciences · 2021Pooled it
- Oral Lorazepam is not Superior to Placebo for Lowering Stress in Children Before Digestive Endoscopy: A Double-Blind, Randomized, Controlled Trial.Paediatric drugs · 2019Trial
- Glucocorticoid receptor gene (Neurobiology of stress · 2026Article
- Anxiety and Depression Traits Are Moderated by a Sex-Dependent Genetic Interaction Between 5-HTTLPR and BDNF.Brain sciences · 2026Article
- Neurodevelopmental effects of early life stress: PFC and cognition.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2026Review
- Revisiting 'environmental effects': Directions for multidisciplinary investigations of air quality and psychopathology.Clinical psychological science : a journal of the Association for Psychological Science · 2026Article
- Differential Ceramide Metabolism in Autogenous and Reactive Obsessions: A Biomarker Perspective in OCD.Clinical psychopharmacology and neuroscience : the official scientific journal of the Korean College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2026Article
- Cue-Dependent Fear Learning Drives Nucleus Accumbens Spine Plasticity.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Choline and DNA methylation: impact across metabolic, oncogenic and neurodevelopmental disorders.Clinical epigenetics · 2026Review
- A systematic review investigating the relationship between green and blue spaces and depression in older adults via DNA methylation.Environmental epigenetics · 2026Review
- Hypothalamus volumes and mental health in children and adolescents.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2026Article
- Life stressors and mental health: Depressive symptoms, anxiety, and suicidal ideation or intent during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.PloS one · 2026Article
- Relationship between gestational diabetes mellitus and anxiety symptoms and gut microbiome composition in pregnant women.Open life sciences · 2026Article
- The cortisol axis and psychiatric disorders: an updated review.Pharmacological reports : PR · 2025Review
- Understanding How Mental Health Influences IBD Outcomes: A Review of Potential Culprit Biological Mechanisms.Biomedicines · 2025Review
- The relationship between physical activity and social network site addiction among adolescents: the chain mediating role of anxiety and ego-depletion.BMC psychology · 2025Article
- The Gut Microbiome in Anxiety Disorders.Current psychiatry reports · 2025Review
35 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Anxiety disorders are among the most common of all mental disorders and their pathogenesis is a major topic in psychiatry, both for prevention and treatment. Early stressful life events and alterations of hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis function seem to have a significant role in the onset of anxiety. Existing data appear to support the mediating effect of the HPA axis between childhood traumata and posttraumatic stress disorder. Findings on the HPA axis activity at baseline and after stimuli in panic disordered patients are inconclusive, even if stressful life events may have a triggering function in the development of this disorder. Data on the relationship between stress, HPA axis functioning and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) are scarce and discordant, but an increased activity of the HPA axis is reported in OCD patients. Moreover, normal basal cortisol levels and hyper-responsiveness of the adrenal cortex during a psychosocial stressor are observed in social phobics. Finally, abnormal HPA axis activity has also been observed in generalized anxiety disordered patients. While several hypothesis have attempted to explain these findings over time, currently the most widely accepted theory is that early stressful life events may provoke alterations of the stress response and thus of the HPA axis, that can endure during adulthood, predisposing individuals to develop psychopathology. All theories are reviewed and the authors conclude that childhood life events and HPA abnormalities may be specifically and transnosographically related to all anxiety disorders, as well as, more broadly, to all psychiatric disorders.
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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.