Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38426566›Full record

ArticleJournal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines2024

DHEA: a neglected biological signal that may affect fetal and child development.

Natasha A Bailey, Elysia Poggi Davis, Curt A Sandman, Laura M Glynn

Open access · hybridAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
5citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
6.7field-weighted citation impact, top 4% of its field
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

5 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 6 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Review
  3. Article
  4. Review
  5. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.

Natasha A BaileyDepartment of Psychology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA.
Elysia Poggi DavisDepartment of Psychology, University of Denver, Denver, CO, USA.ORCID 0000-0001-6345-9271
Curt A SandmanDepartment of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA.
Laura M GlynnDepartment of Psychology, Chapman University, Orange, CA, USA.ORCID 0000-0001-5903-8685
Chapman University · USUniversity of California, Irvine · USUniversity of Denver · USUniversity of Virginia · US

Funding

Structural & Network-Function Correlates of Fragmented Early-Life Across SpeciesP50MH096889 · NIMH · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-IRVINE · PI BARAM, TALLIE Z. · 2013 to 2023
$25.4M
Maternal Stress and Fetal/Infant DevelopmentR01NS041298 · NINDS · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-IRVINE · PI SANDMAN, CURT ALAN · 2002 to 2006
$2.8M
Fetal Programming of Early DevelopmentR01HD051852 · NICHD · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-IRVINE · PI SANDMAN, CURT ALAN · 2006 to 2010
$2.7M
Pregnancy Influences Environmental SensitivityR01HD040967 · NICHD · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA IRVINE · PI GLYNN, LAURA M · 2001 to 2005
$1.7M
STRESS AND BIRTH OUTCOMESR01HD028413 · NICHD · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA IRVINE · PI SANDMAN, CURT ALAN · 1992 to 2001
$659k
NICHD NIH HHS R01 HD028413NICHD NIH HHS R01 HD040967NICHD NIH HHS R01 HD051852NIH HHS HD-28413NIH HHS HD-40967NIH HHS HD-51852NIH HHS MH-96889NIH HHS NS-41298NIMH NIH HHS P50 MH096889NINDS NIH HHS R01 NS041298
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundThe stress-sensitive maternal hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis through the end-product cortisol, represents a primary pathway through which maternal experience shapes fetal development with long-term consequences for child neurodevelopment. However, there is another HPA axis end-product that has been widely ignored in the study of human pregnancy. The synthesis and release of dehydroepiandosterone (DHEA) is similar to cortisol, so it is a plausible, but neglected, biological signal that may influence fetal neurodevelopment. DHEA also may interact with cortisol to determine developmental outcomes. Surprisingly, there is virtually nothing known about human fetal exposure to prenatal maternal DHEA and offspring neurodevelopment. The current study examined, for the first time, the joint impact of fetal exposure to prenatal maternal DHEA and cortisol on infant emotional reactivity.

methodsParticipants were 124 mother-infant dyads. DHEA and cortisol were measured from maternal hair at 15 weeks (early gestation) and 35 weeks (late gestation). Observational assessments of positive and negative emotional reactivity were obtained in the laboratory when the infants were 6 months old. Pearson correlations were used to examine the associations between prenatal maternal cortisol, prenatal maternal DHEA, and infant positive and negative emotional reactivity. Moderation analyses were conducted to investigate whether DHEA might modify the association between cortisol and emotional reactivity.

resultsHigher levels of both early and late gestation maternal DHEA were linked to greater infant positive emotional reactivity. Elevated late gestation maternal cortisol was associated with greater negative emotional reactivity. Finally, the association between fetal cortisol exposure and infant emotional reactivity was only observed when DHEA was low.

conclusionsThese new observations indicate that DHEA is a potential maternal biological signal involved in prenatal programming. It appears to act both independently and jointly with cortisol to determine a child's emotional reactivity. Its role as a primary end-product of the HPA axis, coupled with the newly documented associations with prenatal development shown here, strongly calls for the inclusion of DHEA in future investigations of fetal programming.

Indexed as

DehydroepiandrosteroneHydrocortisonePrenatal Exposure Delayed EffectsAdultChild DevelopmentEmotionsFemaleFetal DevelopmentHairHumansHypothalamo-Hypophyseal SystemInfantMalePregnancyDehydroepiandrosteroneHydrocortisonecortisolDHEAfetal programminginfant emotional reactivitynegative affectpositive affectPrenatal maternal HPA axis

Identifiers

PMID38426566
PMCPMC12893774
OpenAlexW4392355781

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.