ArticlePloS one2018
Newborn infants' hair cortisol levels reflect chronic maternal stress during pregnancy.
Article in PloS one, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the 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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
34 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 91 citations in OpenAlex.
- A systematic review of associations between hormone levels in hair and peripartum depression.Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2025Pooled it
- Hair cortisol as outcome parameter for psychological and neuropsychiatric interventions-a literature review.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2023Pooled it
- A systematic review of hair cortisol during pregnancy: Reference ranges and methodological considerations.Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2020Pooled it
- Hair Cortisol Concentrations in Children: A Longitudinal Analysis Across Childhood.Developmental psychobiology · 2026Article
- Early life stress and the pathogenesis of visceral hypersensitivity: mechanisms and implications for disorders of gut-brain interaction.Frontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2026Review
- Stress in lockdown: exploring the interplay and effects of cortisol and psychological distress in parent-child dyads.Journal of neural transmission (Vienna, Austria : 1996) · 2025Article
- Experiences of discrimination during pregnancy predict altered neonatal hair cortisol at birth.Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2025Article
- Using Machine Learning to Identify Predictors of Maternal and Infant Hair Cortisol Concentration Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic.Stress and health : journal of the International Society for the Investigation of Stress · 2025Article
- Infant development at 14 months in the context of maternal objective and subjective birth experience and infant hair glucocorticoids.BMC pediatrics · 2025Article
- Perinatal Imaging in Partnership with Families (PIPKIN): Longitudinal cohort study protocol.PloS one · 2025Article
- Higher prenatal anxiety predicts lower neonatal hair cortisol.Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2024Article
- Perinatal Stressors and Consequences for Neonates with Critical Congenital Heart Disease.Journal of cardiovascular development and disease · 2023Article
- Article
- Preschool-aged children's hair cortisol and parents' behavior, psychopathology, and stress.Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2023Article
- Relationship Between Maternal Serum Cortisol and Maternal Insulin Resistance and Fetal Ultrasound Characteristics in Gestational Diabetes Mellitus.Diabetes, metabolic syndrome and obesity : targets and therapy · 2023Article
- Prevalence and Correlates of Weight Stigma among Postpartum Women in China.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Immune System and Psychological State of Pregnant Women during COVID-19 Pandemic: Are Micronutrients Able to Support Pregnancy?Nutrients · 2022Review
- Deleterious effects of nervous system in the offspring following maternal SARS-CoV-2 infection during the COVID-19 pandemic.Translational psychiatry · 2022Review
- Hair Cortisol and DHEA-S in Foals and Mares as a Retrospective Picture of Feto-Maternal Relationship under Physiological and Pathological Conditions.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2022Article
- Ontogeny of the Dyad: the Relationship Between Maternal and Offspring Neuroendocrine Function.Current psychiatry reports · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Cortisol obtained from hair samples represents a retrospective biomarker of chronic stress experienced by the subject in previous months. Although hair cortisol levels have been used to study the relationship between maternal and neonatal stress levels in primates, this has not yet been performed in humans using a longitudinal design and focusing specifically on this association. Therefore, the objective of this study was to determine whether a relationship existed between maternal psychological stress and hair cortisol levels during pregnancy and postpartum, and neonatal hair cortisol levels. The sample consisted of 80 pregnant women and their 80 newborn infants. We conducted a longitudinal assessment of hair cortisol levels, psychological stress, anxiety, and depression in the three trimesters of pregnancy and postpartum. After childbirth, neonatal hair cortisol levels were also measured. We found that maternal hair cortisol levels in the first trimester negatively predicted neonatal hair cortisol levels. Perceived stress in the third trimester of pregnancy also predicted lower neonatal cortisol, whereas pregnancy-specific stress in the same trimester had a positive relation with neonatal cortisol. Cortisol is essential for embryonic and fetal development; consequently, if fetal synthesis of cortisol is affected by high maternal cortisol levels, such development could be impaired.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.