ReviewFrontiers in endocrinology2018
Psychosocial Stress, Cortisol Levels, and Maintenance of Vaginal Health.
Review in Frontiers in endocrinology, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 48 papers, 1 of them a synthesis 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
48 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 87 citations in OpenAlex.
- Prenatal Maternal Stress and Infant Gut Microbiome in Human and Animal Studies: A Comprehensive Systematic Review.Developmental psychobiology · 2026Pooled it
- Vaginal microbiota impacts of a Lactobacillus crispatus live biotherapeutic and predictors of colonization in randomized controlled trial.Cell host & microbe · 2026Trial
- Vaginal microbiomes and their pertinent social context: a microbial ecological review proffering AMR-STI acquisition and emergence.Biology of sex differences · 2026Review
- The Pathophysiology of Spontaneous Preterm Birth: Emerging Mechanisms Reviewed by the Preterm Birth International Collaborative.Reproductive sciences (Thousand Oaks, Calif.) · 2026Review
- Microbial Dysbiosis and Pathogenic Interplay in the Gut-Vaginal Axis: Implications for Polycystic Ovary Syndrome: A Critical Review.Current microbiology · 2026Review
- Resource landscape shapes the composition and stability of the human vaginal microbiota.PLoS biology · 2026Article
- Vaginal microbiota in assisted reproduction: determinants, dynamics, and impact on clinical outcomes.Frontiers in microbiology · 2026Review
- Parabolic flight induces site specific microbiome changes in women.Frontiers in microbiology · 2026Article
- The interventional value and research progress of vaginal microbiota transplantation in improving female sexual quality of life associated with dysbiosis of the reproductive microecosystem.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Review
- Innovative engineering approaches to model host-microbiome interactions in vitro.Advanced drug delivery reviews · 2025Review
- Wartime Stress and Sexual Well-Being: A Longitudinal Study of Cohabitating Adults in Israel.Archives of sexual behavior · 2025Article
- Vaginal pharmacomicrobiomics modulates risk of persistent and recurrent bacterial vaginosis.NPJ biofilms and microbiomes · 2025Review
- The role of microbiota and toll-like receptors in polycystic ovary syndrome: regulatory mechanisms of androgen metabolism.Endocrine connections · 2025Review
- On-site analysis of cortisol in saliva based on microchannel lateral flow assay (mLFA) on polymer lab-on-a-chip (LOC).Biomedical microdevices · 2025Article
- Changes to the reproductive microbiome of the brood pouch during male pregnancy in seahorses (Hippocampus abdominalis).Reproduction (Cambridge, England) · 2025Article
- Factors shaping vaginal microbiota long-term community dynamics in young adult women.Peer community journal · 2025Article
- HIV and Viremia Prevalence in Nonmigrating Members of Migrant Households in Southern Uganda: A Cross-Sectional Population-Based Study.Journal of acquired immune deficiency syndromes (1999) · 2025Article
- Aerobic Vaginitis Caused ByInternational journal of women's health · 2025Article
- Vaginal Microbiome: Environmental, Biological, and Racial Influences on Gynecological Health Across the Lifespan.American journal of reproductive immunology (New York, N.Y. : 1989) · 2024Review
- Untangling Associations of Microbiomes of Pregnancy and Preterm Birth.Clinics in perinatology · 2024Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Stress stimuli are ubiquitous and women do not enjoy any exemptions. The physiologic "fight-or-flight" response may be deleterious to the female lower genital tract microbiome if the stress stimuli persist for longer than necessary. Persistent exposure to psychosocial stress and stimulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) and sympathetic-adrenal-medullary (SAM) axes, and associated hormones are risk factors for several infections including genitourinary tract infections. Though this could be due to a dysregulated immune response, a cortisol-induced inhibition of vaginal glycogen deposition may be involved especially in the instance of vaginal infection. The estrogen-related increased vaginal glycogen and epithelial maturation are required for the maintenance of a healthy vaginal ecosystem (eubiosis). The ability of cortisol to disrupt this process as indicated in animal models is important in the pathogenesis of vaginal dysbiosis and the subsequent development of infection and inflammation. This phenomenon may be more crucial in pregnancy where a healthy Lactobacillus-dominated vaginal microbiota is sacrosanct, and there is local production of more corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) from the decidua, fetal membranes and placenta. To highlight the relationship between the stress hormone cortisol and the vaginal microbiomial architecture and function, the potential role of cortisol in the maintenance of vaginal health is examined.
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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.