ArticleArchives of disease in childhood. Fetal and neonatal edition2022
Saliva cortisol diurnal variation and stress responses in term and preterm infants.
Article in Archives of disease in childhood. Fetal and neonatal edition, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.
What it found
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 18 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effect of kangaroo mother care and white noise on physiological-stress parameters in heel lancing: randomized controlled study.BMC pediatrics · 2024Trial
- Differences in cortisol levels between preterm and term infants: a systematic review and meta-analysis combined with Mendelian randomization study.Frontiers in pediatrics · 2026Review
- Sex-Specific Patterns of Cortisol Fluctuation, Stress, and Academic Success in Quarantined Foreign Medical Students During the COVID-19 Lockdown.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Evolved birth physiology meets modern birth practice: Sustained effects of planned cesarean delivery on child hair cortisol in Brazil.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Machine learning classification of EEG responses to pain-related vs non-pain-related stimulus in preterm infants.Pain reports · 2025Article
- The cortisol awakening response in very preterm born adults compared to term born adults.Journal of neuroendocrinology · 2025Article
- Perinatal glucocorticoid sensitivity in the preterm newborn: molecular mechanisms, endogenous determinants, and clinical implications.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2025Review
- Preterm birth: A neuroinflammatory origin for metabolic diseases?Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2024Review
- A Preliminary Study of Correlates of Premature Birth and Their Influence on Cortisol Levels in Young Children.Biological research for nursing · 2024Article
- The effect of the swaddling method on stress levels in newborns administered nasal CPAP.BMC pediatrics · 2023Article
- Cortisol levels are related to neonatal pain exposure in children born very preterm at age 18 months in two independent cohorts.Paediatric & neonatal pain · 2023Article
- Exploring Non-Invasive Salivary Biomarkers for Acute Pain Diagnostics: A Comprehensive Review.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Interaction between birth characteristics andFrontiers in oncology · 2023Article
- Glucocorticoids in preterm human milk.Frontiers in nutrition · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
11 authors at 5 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveTo determine if preterm birth is associated with adaptation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and whether HPA axis programming relates to the degree of prematurity (defined as extremely preterm birth at <28 weeks or very preterm birth at 28-32 weeks gestation).
designThis study reports findings from a prospective birth cohort. Saliva cortisol concentrations were measured prevaccination and postvaccination, and in the morning and evening, at 4 months chronological age.
settingInfants born at a single Scottish hospital.
participants45 term-born, 42 very preterm and 16 extremely preterm infants. OUTCOMES: Cortisol stress response to vaccination (postvaccination minus prevaccination cortisol concentrations), diurnal slope (log-transformed morning minus log-transformed evening cortisol values) and mean log-transformed daily cortisol.
resultsCompared with infants born at term, infants born extremely preterm had a blunted cortisol response to vaccination (5.8 nmol/L vs 13.1 nmol/L, difference in means: -7.3 nmol/L, 95% CI -14.0 to -0.6) and a flattened diurnal slope (difference in geometric means: -72.9%, 95% CI -87.1 to -42.8). In contrast, the cortisol response to vaccination (difference in means -2.7 nmol/L, 95% CI -7.4 to 2.0) and diurnal slope at 4 months (difference in geometric means: -33.6%, 95% CI -62.0 to 16.0) did not differ significantly in infants born very preterm compared with infants born at term.
conclusionsInfants born extremely preterm have blunted cortisol reactivity and a flattened diurnal slope. These patterns of HPA axis regulation are commonly seen after childhood adversity and could contribute to later metabolic and neurodevelopmental phenotypes observed in this population.
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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.