ArticleScientific reports2020
Maternal stress or sleep during pregnancy are not reflected on telomere length of newborns.
Article in Scientific reports, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 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
15 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 23 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
- Maternal psychological stress during pregnancy and newborn telomere length: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC psychiatry · 2023Pooled it
- Maternal health behavior during pregnancy mediates the relationship between maternal stress and newborn telomere length.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2026Article
- Molecular pathways linking chronic psychological stress to accelerated aging: mechanisms and interventions.Frontiers in aging · 2026Review
- Correlation of telomere length between full and preterm neonates and their mothers.Experimental and therapeutic medicine · 2025Article
- Maternal Lifestyle During Pregnancy and Its Influence on Offspring's Telomere Length.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Associations between maternal adversity and health and children's telomere length.Translational psychiatry · 2025Article
- Maternal experience of intimate partner violence, maternal depression, and parental stress are not associated with child telomere length in Bangladesh.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- The Association Between Longer Maternal Leukocyte Telomere Length in the Immediate Postpartum Period and Preterm Birth in a Predominately Latina Cohort of Mothers.Maternal and child health journal · 2025Article
- Infant buccal telomere length: associations with maternal distress in pregnancy and offspring temperament.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Intergenerational effects of maternal lifetime stressor exposure on offspring telomere length in Black and White women.Psychological medicine · 2023Article
- Early Environment and Telomeres: a Long-Term Toxic Relationship.Current environmental health reports · 2023Review
- The association between sleep quality and telomere length: A systematic literature review.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2023Review
- Psychosocial Factors and Telomere Length Among Parents and Infants of Immigrant Arab American Families.Biological research for nursing · 2023Article
- Leukocyte telomere dynamics across gestation in uncomplicated pregnancies and associations with stress.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Telomeres play an important role in maintaining chromosomal integrity. With each cell division, telomeres are shortened and leukocyte telomere length (LTL) has therefore been considered a marker for biological age. LTL is associated with various lifetime stressors and health-related outcomes. Transgenerational effects have been implicated in newborns, with maternal stress, depression, and anxiety predicting shorter telomere length at birth, possibly reflecting the intrauterine growth environment. Previous studies, with relatively small sample sizes, have reported an effect of maternal stress, BMI, and depression during pregnancy on the LTL of newborns. Here, we attempted to replicate previous findings on prenatal stress and newborn LTL in a sample of 1405 infants using a qPCR-based method. In addition, previous research has been expanded by studying the relationship between maternal sleep quality and LTL. Maternal prenatal stress, anxiety, depression, BMI, and self-reported sleep quality were evaluated with self-reported questionnaires. Despite sufficient power to detect similar or even considerably smaller effects than those previously reported in the literature, we were unable to replicate the previous correlation between maternal stress, anxiety, depression, or sleep with LTL. We discuss several possible reasons for the discrepancies between our findings and those previously described.
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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.