SynthesisArchives of women's mental health2018
The association between maternal cortisol and depression during pregnancy, a systematic review.
Synthesis in Archives of women's mental health, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT03602378 (Quality of Life and Stress in Parents of Children With Developmental Disabilities and Chronic Disease), which is not on this map. Cited by 34 papers, 3 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.
Quality of Life and Stress in Parents of Children With Developmental Disabilities and Chronic Disease
Who cites it
34 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
- A systematic review of associations between hormone levels in hair and peripartum depression.Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2025Pooled it
- Perinatal maternal depression and the risk of childhood asthma in offspring: A meta-analysis.PloS one · 2024Pooled it
- Perinatal HPA axis regulation and offspring neuropsychiatric development: mechanisms, developmental trajectories, and clinical implications.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2026Review
- Application of Treatment Response Biomarkers from Major Depression to Perinatal Depression.Journal of personalized medicine · 2025Review
- Coordination of inflammatory and adrenocortical stress response during pregnancy and variation by mental health.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2025Article
- Stress-induced developmental plasticity and spontaneous preterm birth: A justice-oriented eco-evo-devo review.European journal of obstetrics & gynecology and reproductive biology: X · 2025Review
- Cortisol awakening response in pregnant women with depressive disorders: a potential marker of recovery status from pregnancy to postpartum.Comprehensive psychoneuroendocrinology · 2025Article
- Investigating the Microbiome in Relation to Mental Distress Across Two Points During Pregnancy: Data From U.S. and Swedish Cohorts.Biological psychiatry global open science · 2025Article
- Are Children's Externalizing and Internalizing Behaviours at 5 Years Predicted by Maternal Perinatal Depression Trajectory Profiles?Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Blood transcriptomic signatures associated with depression, or the risk for depression, in pregnant women from the Psychiatry Research And Motherhood - Depression (PRAM-D) study.Translational psychiatry · 2025Article
- Effects of yoga on depressive symptoms in women with pregnancy: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Heliyon · 2025Article
- Normative serum cortisol levels in second and third trimesters and their associated factors: A prospective cohort study from Sri Lanka.PloS one · 2025Article
- Perinatal Predictors and Mediators of Attachment Patterns in Preschool Children: Exploration of Children's Contributions in Interactions with Mothers.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- The effects of IPV and mental health symptoms on HPA axis functioning during early pregnancy.Archives of women's mental health · 2024Article
- Relationships Among Number of Stressors, Perceived Stress, and Salivary Cortisol Levels During the Third Trimester of Pregnancy.Journal of obstetric, gynecologic, and neonatal nursing : JOGNN · 2024Article
- Cortisol Regulation among Women Who Experience Suicidal Ideation during Pregnancy.Journal of affective disorders reports · 2023Article
- How prenatal cortisol levels relate to grandmother-mother relationships among a cohort of Latina women.American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council · 2023Article
- Gender Differences in Cortisol and Cortisol Receptors in Depression: A Narrative Review.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Review
- The role of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis in depression across the female reproductive lifecycle: current knowledge and future directions.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Timing of cortisol collection during pregnancy is an important factor within studies reporting on the association between maternal cortisol and depression during pregnancy. Our objective was to further examine the extent to which reported associations differed across studies according to time of maternal cortisol collection during pregnancy. On December 15, 2016, records were identified using PubMed/MEDLINE (National Library of Medicine), EMBASE (Elsevier; 1974-), Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL, EBSCO), PsycINFO (EBSCO), and Web of Science Core Collection (Thomson Reuters). Unique abstracts were screened using the following inclusion criteria: (1) maternal cortisol assessed during pregnancy; (2) antepartum depression assessed during pregnancy using a screening instrument; (3) reports on the association between maternal cortisol and antepartum depression; (4) provides information on timing of cortisol assessment during pregnancy, including time of day and gestation; and (5) not a review article or a case study. One thousand three hundred seventy-five records were identified, resulting in 826 unique abstracts. Twenty-nine articles met all inclusion criteria. On balance, most studies reported no association between maternal cortisol and antepartum depression (N = 17), and saliva and blood were the most common reported matrices. Morning and second and third trimesters were the most common times of collection during pregnancy. Among studies reporting an association (N = 12), second-trimester and third-trimester cortisol assessments more consistently reported an association and elevated cortisol concentrations were observed in expected recovery periods. Our review adds to the existing literature on the topic, highlighting gaps and strategic next steps.
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Registered trials
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