ArticleBMC psychiatry2017
Alterations of hair cortisol and dehydroepiandrosterone in mother-infant-dyads with maternal childhood maltreatment.
Article in BMC psychiatry, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 24 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
24 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 52 citations in OpenAlex.
- Neonatal Hair Cortisol and Birth Outcomes: An Empirical Study and Meta-Analysis.Psychosomatic medicine · 2024Pooled it
- A systematic review of hair cortisol during pregnancy: Reference ranges and methodological considerations.Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2020Pooled it
- The association between adversity and hair cortisol levels in humans: A meta-analysis.Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2019Pooled it
- Developmental and environmental determinants of hair steroids in children from birth to two years postnatally: A comprehensive analysis.Comprehensive psychoneuroendocrinology · 2026Article
- Maternal History of Child Maltreatment Predicts Dysregulated Offspring Stress Response System Functioning.Child maltreatment · 2025Article
- Emotional Availability as a Moderator of Stress for Young Children and Parents in Two Diverse Early Head Start Samples.Prevention science : the official journal of the Society for Prevention Research · 2025Article
- From Pre-Foaling to Late Pregnancy: Cortisol, DHEA(S), Progesterone, 17-β-Estradiol, and Allopregnanolone Hair Concentration Profiles in Standardbred Mares.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2025Article
- DHEA: a neglected biological signal that may affect fetal and child development.Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines · 2024Article
- Article
- Linking specific biological signatures to different childhood adversities: findings from the HERO project.Pediatric research · 2023Article
- Stress before conception and during pregnancy and maternal cortisol during pregnancy: A scoping review.Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2023Article
- Article
- Ontogeny of the Dyad: the Relationship Between Maternal and Offspring Neuroendocrine Function.Current psychiatry reports · 2022Review
- Atypical maternal interaction is associated with elevated levels of hair cortisol in children.Frontiers in pediatrics · 2022Article
- Identifying Risk and Resilience Factors in the Intergenerational Cycle of Maltreatment: Results From theFrontiers in human neuroscience · 2022Article
- Perinatal determinants of neonatal hair glucocorticoid concentrations.Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2021Article
- Integrative Review of Early Life Adversity and Cortisol Regulation in Pregnancy.Journal of obstetric, gynecologic, and neonatal nursing : JOGNN · 2021Review
- Article
- Within-person changes of cortisol, dehydroepiandrosterone, testosterone, estradiol, and progesterone in hair across pregnancy, with comparison to a non-pregnant reference group.Comprehensive psychoneuroendocrinology · 2021Article
- Prevalence of Intimate Partner Violence Among Intimate Partners During the Perinatal Period: A Narrative Literature Review.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2021Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
13 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundChild maltreatment (CM) has severe effects on psychological and physical health. The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, the major stress system of the body, is dysregulated after CM. The analysis of cortisol and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) in scalp hair presents a new and promising methodological approach to assess chronic HPA axis activity. This study investigated the effects of CM on HPA axis activity in the last trimester of pregnancy by measuring the two important signaling molecules, cortisol and DHEA in hair, shortly after parturition. In addition, we explored potential effects of maternal CM on her offspring's endocrine milieu during pregnancy by measuring cortisol and DHEA in newborns' hair.
methodsCM was assessed with the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ). Cortisol and DHEA were measured in hair samples of 94 mothers and 30 newborns, collected within six days after delivery. Associations of maternal CM on her own and her newborn's cortisol as well as DHEA concentrations in hair were analyzed with heteroscedastic regression models.
resultsHigher CM was associated with significantly higher DHEA levels, but not cortisol concentrations in maternal hair. Moreover, maternal CM was positively, but only as a non-significant trend, associated with higher DHEA levels in the newborns' hair.
conclusionsResults suggest that the steroid milieu of the mother, at least on the level of DHEA, is altered after CM, possibly leading to non-genomic transgenerational effects on the developing fetus in utero. Indeed, we observed on an explorative level first hints that the endocrine milieu for the developing child might be altered in CM mothers. These results need extension and replication in future studies. The measurement of hair steroids in mothers and their newborns is promising, but more research is needed to better understand the effects of a maternal history of CM on the developing fetus.
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