ArticlePsychoneuroendocrinology2019
Maternal cortisol output in pregnancy and newborn telomere length: Evidence for sex-specific effects.
Article in Psychoneuroendocrinology, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 33 papers, 2 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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
33 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 56 citations in OpenAlex.
- Impact of Maternal Lifetime Stress on Offspring Biological Aging: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Observational Studies.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Pooled it
- A systematic review of hair cortisol during pregnancy: Reference ranges and methodological considerations.Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2020Pooled it
- Impact of a nutritional supplement during gestation and early childhood on child salivary cortisol, hair cortisol, and telomere length at 4-6 years of age: a follow-up of a randomized controlled trial.Stress (Amsterdam, Netherlands) · 2020Trial
- Maternal Telomere Length and Its Influence on Neonatal Parameters: A Potential Tool for Prenatal Screening.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2025Observational
- Article
- Temperament and sex as moderating factors of the effects of exposure to maternal depression on telomere length in early childhood.Development and psychopathology · 2025Article
- Associations among temperament characteristics and telomere length and attrition rate in early childhood.Developmental psychology · 2024Article
- Characterization of hair cortisol concentration pre-conception and during pregnancy.Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2024Article
- Involvement of Inheritance in Determining Telomere Length beyond Environmental and Lifestyle Factors.Aging and disease · 2023Review
- Sub-optimal maternal gestational gain is associated with shorter leukocyte telomere length at birth in a predominantly Latinx cohort of newborns.Maternal health, neonatology and perinatology · 2023Article
- Intergenerational effects of maternal lifetime stressor exposure on offspring telomere length in Black and White women.Psychological medicine · 2023Article
- Correlates of preconception and pregnancy hair cortisol concentrations.Research square · 2023Article
- Pathomechanisms of Prenatally Programmed Adult Diseases.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Maternal adverse childhood experiences impact fetal adrenal volume in a sex-specific manner.Biology of sex differences · 2023Article
- Perinatal and early childhood biomarkers of psychosocial stress and adverse experiences.Pediatric research · 2022Review
- Stress and telomere shortening: Insights from cellular mechanisms.Ageing research reviews · 2022Review
- Integrating Environment and Aging Research: Opportunities for Synergy and Acceleration.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2022Review
- Prenatal exposure to maternal psychological distress and telomere length in childhood.Developmental psychobiology · 2022Article
- Article
- Maternal Sociodemographic Factors and Antenatal Stress.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Newborn telomere length is a potential biomarker of the effects of maternal-fetal processes on offspring long-term health. A number of maternal psychosocial and environmental factors in pregnancy (e.g., stress, health, socioeconomic status) have been associated with shortened telomere length at birth. The physiological mechanisms responsible for potential effects of maternal factors on newborn telomere length have yet to be identified. Indirect evidence suggests that disruptions in maternal hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis functioning in pregnancy may be involved. Studies are needed that test whether maternal HPA axis functioning in pregnancy is associated with newborn telomere length. This study examined whether maternal HPA axis functioning across pregnancy, reflected in hair cortisol collected within one week after delivery, predicted newborn telomere length assessed from leukocyte cord blood collected at birth among 93 sociodemographically diverse mother-infant dyads. We further tested whether associations between maternal hair cortisol and newborn telomere length differed by infant sex, given documented sex differences in prenatal environmental exposure effects on offspring health, patterns of cortisol exposure during gestation, and telomere biology across the lifespan. In a multi-group structural equation modeling analysis that accounted for cortisol exposures across trimesters, maternal cortisol levels in pregnancy were not associated with newborn telomere length in the sample as a whole. However, significant sex differences emerged, with a significant positive association among females and a lack of a significant association among males. In addition, analyses revealed that cortisol levels were higher across trimesters among mothers of male infants than mothers of female infants. The results suggest that functioning of the maternal HPA axis in pregnancy may differ by fetal sex and have sex-specific effects on newborn telomere biology. These findings have implications for understanding the mechanisms by which maternal psychosocial and environmental exposures influence newborn telomere length and for elucidating mechanisms contributing to sex disparities in health.
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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.