ReviewEuropean child & adolescent psychiatry2014
Mechanisms underlying the effects of prenatal psychosocial stress on child outcomes: beyond the HPA axis.
Review in European child & adolescent psychiatry, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 137 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.
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Who cites it
137 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Noise pollution during pregnancy and congenital issues: systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2026Pooled it
- The effects of prenatal psychosocial work stress on adverse pregnancy outcomes: A comprehensive systematic review and meta-analysis.Scandinavian journal of work, environment & health · 2025Pooled it
- The Link Between Positive and Negative Parenting Behaviors and Child Inflammation: A Systematic Review.Child psychiatry and human development · 2023Pooled it
- Mother-infant stress contagion? Effects of an acute maternal stressor on maternal caregiving behavior and infant cortisol and crying.Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines · 2025Trial
- Understanding the Complexity of Sleep Disturbances in ASD: From Mechanisms to Management.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Perceived Stress During Pregnancy and Offspring Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: Findings From the ECHO Cohort Study.JAACAP open · 2026Article
- Sex-specific impact of early life stress on adult lung inflammatory response after LPS and Poly I:C exposures.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2026Article
- Maternal eating disorders and respiratory outcomes in childhood: findings from the EU Child Cohort Network.Thorax · 2026Article
- Synergistic pathways to psychosis: understanding developmental risk and resilience factors.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2026Review
- An Interpersonal Physiological Pathway Framework Linking Racism and Well-Being in Black American Families.Developmental psychobiology · 2025Review
- Neighborhood income inequality, maternal relative deprivation and neonatal health in Sweden: A cross-sectional study using individually defined multi-scale contexts.SSM - population health · 2025Article
- Maternal Childhood Trauma and Offspring Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis Function from Infancy to 6 Years of Age.Developmental psychobiology · 2025Article
- Association between maternal perceived stress during pregnancy and offspring DNA methylation changes in HPA axis genes at birth in the ECHO Consortium.Environmental epigenetics · 2025Article
- Interactive effects of prenatal adversity and COVID-19 hardship on youth psychological distress: a longitudinal study.Frontiers in child and adolescent psychiatry · 2025Article
- Perinatal Imaging in Partnership with Families (PIPKIN): Longitudinal cohort study protocol.PloS one · 2025Article
- Low-dose aspirin, maternal cardiometabolic health, and offspring respiratory health 9 to 14 years after delivery: Findings from the EAGeR Follow-up Study.Paediatric and perinatal epidemiology · 2024Article
- The association between prenatal psychosocial factors and autism spectrum disorder in offspring at 3 years: a prospective cohort study.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2024Article
- Health-related quality of life in pregnant women with type 1 diabetes and associations with maternal and neonatal complications.Quality of life research : an international journal of quality of life aspects of treatment, care and rehabilitation · 2024Article
- Joint effects of prenatal exposure to indoor air pollution and psychosocial factors on early life inflammation.Environmental research · 2024Article
- Effects of sleep quality in early pregnancy on pregnancy outcomes and mood state.Sleep & breathing = Schlaf & Atmung · 2024Article
77 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
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Accumulating evidence from preclinical and clinical studies indicates that maternal psychosocial stress and anxiety during pregnancy adversely affect child outcomes. However, knowledge on the possible mechanisms underlying these relations is limited. In the present paper, we review the most often proposed mechanism, namely that involving the HPA axis and cortisol, as well as other less well-studied but possibly relevant and complementary mechanisms. We present evidence for a role of the following mechanisms: compromised placental functioning, including the 11β-HSD2 enzyme, increased catecholamines, compromised maternal immune system and intestinal microbiota, and altered health behaviors including eating, sleep, and exercise. The roles of (epi)genetics, the postnatal environment and the fetus are also discussed. We conclude that maternal prenatal psychosocial stress is a complex phenomenon that affects maternal emotions, behavior and physiology in many ways, and may influence the physiology and functioning of the fetus through a network of different pathways. The review concludes with recommendations for future research that helps our understanding of the mechanisms by which maternal prenatal stress exerts its effect on the fetus.
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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.