ArticleStress and health : journal of the International Society for the Investigation of Stress2022
DNA methylation in blood cells is associated with cortisol levels in offspring of mothers who had prenatal post-traumatic stress disorder.
Article in Stress and health : journal of the International Society for the Investigation of Stress, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers.
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
15 citing papers in PubMed, 23 citations in OpenAlex.
- An epigenome-wide study of a needs-based family intervention for offspring of trauma-exposed mothers in Kosovo.Brain and behavior · 2024Trial
- Is Stress Reactivity an Intermediary Mechanism in the Association Between NR3C1 Methylation and Adolescent Loneliness?Developmental psychobiology · 2026Article
- Epigenetic Basis of Stress-Induced Central Nervous System Disorders: Therapeutic Approaches.Biology · 2026Review
- Multilayered regulation of BDNF DNA methylation in PTSD: a review from molecular mechanisms to trans generational inheritance.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Review
- Steroid hormone-mediated epigenetic programming during puberty: uncovering links to depression.Epigenomics · 2025Review
- Translational implications of circadian activity alterations in an experimental model of late-onset depression induced by prenatal excess of glucocorticoids.Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2025Review
- Prenatal maternal life adversity impacts on learning and memory in offspring: implication to transgenerational epigenetic inheritance.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2025Article
- Prenatal stress increases corticosterone levels in offspring by impairing placental glucocorticoid barrier function.PloS one · 2025Article
- Detection of DNA methylation from buccal swabs using nanopore sequencing to study stunting.Epigenetics · 2024Article
- Maternal adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and offspring imprinted gene DMR methylation at birth.Epigenetics · 2024Article
- Prenatal exposure to genocide and subsequent adverse childhood events are associated with DNA methylation of SLC6A4, BDNF, and PRDM8 in early adulthood in Rwanda.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Differential impact of prenatal PTSD symptoms and preconception trauma exposure on placentalStress (Amsterdam, Netherlands) · 2024Article
- Review
- DNA methylation in blood cells is associated with cortisol levels in offspring of mothers who had prenatal post-traumatic stress disorder.Stress and health : journal of the International Society for the Investigation of Stress · 2022Article
- Epigenetic Alterations in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: Comprehensive Review of Molecular Markers.Complex psychiatryReview
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
11 authors at 4 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Maternal stress during pregnancy is associated with differential DNA methylation in offspring and disrupted cortisol secretion. This study aimed to determine methylation signatures of cortisol levels in children, and whether associations differ based on maternal post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Blood epigenome-wide methylation and fasting cortisol levels were measured in 118 offspring of mothers recruited from the Kosovo Rehabilitation Centre for Torture Victims. Mothers underwent clinically administered assessment for PTSD using Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Correlations between offspring methylation and cortisol levels were examined using epigenome-wide analysis, adjusting for covariates. Subsequent analysis focussed on a priori selected genes involved in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis stress signalling. Methylation at four sites were correlated with cortisol levels (cg15321696, r = -0.33, cg18105800, r = +0.33, cg00986889, r = -0.25, and cg15920527, r = -0.27). In adjusted multivariable regression, when stratifying based on prenatal PTSD status, significant associations were only found for children born to mothers with prenatal PTSD (p < 0.001). Several sites within HPA axis genes were also associated with cortisol levels in the maternal PTSD group specifically. There is evidence that methylation is associated with cortisol levels, particularly in offspring born to mothers with prenatal PTSD. However, larger studies need to be carried out to independently validate these findings.
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.