ArticleBJOG : an international journal of obstetrics and gynaecology2026
Breaking the Cycle of Preterm Birth: A Prospective Cohort Study on Maternal Stress and Recurrent Preterm Birth.
Article in BJOG : an international journal of obstetrics and gynaecology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
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
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Breaking the Cycle of Preterm Birth: A Prospective Cohort Study on Maternal Stress and Recurrent Preterm Birth.BJOG : an international journal of obstetrics and gynaecology · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
13 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveTo investigate the association between prenatal maternal perceived stress, salivary cortisol, and the odds of recurrent preterm birth (rPTB).
designProspective cohort study.
settingSoroka University Medical Center and Clalit Health Maintenance Organization clinics in Israel. POPULATION: A total of 245 pregnant women with a history of spontaneous singleton PTB, all carrying singleton pregnancies in the current pregnancy. Data source were on-line self-completed computerised REDCap questionnaires and summary of computerised medical records including data on medications and laboratory results and cortisol in the saliva.
methodsParticipants provided saliva samples and completed stress questionnaires twice during pregnancy, with two assessments separated by 4-8 weeks. Recurrent PTB incidence was compared between women with high vs. low cortisol and perceived stress (> 75th percentile). Multivariable logistic regression models were used to analyse the odds of rPTB.
main outcome measuresRecurrent PTB incidence, defined as delivery < 37 weeks in the current pregnancy, identified from hospital records.
resultsAmong 245 women, 22.4% experienced rPTB. High perceived stress levels later in pregnancy were associated with a higher incidence of rPTB (38.9% vs. 19.2%; p = 0.011, adj. OR = 2.44, 95% CI: 1.053-5.639; p = 0.038), while adjusting for maternal age, number of prior PTBs and parity. Women with consistently high stress levels had the highest incidence of rPTB (40%), followed by women with increased stress later in pregnancy (37.5%). The multivariable regression analyses identified consistently high stress (adj. OR = 3.82, 95% CI: 1.37-10.64; p = 0.010) and high stress only in later pregnancy (adj. OR = 3.18, 95% CI: 1.04-9.73; p = 0.042) as significant risk factors of rPTB. No association was observed between cortisol levels, high perceived stress in the first trimester and rPTB. No differences were observed between women with versus without rPTB in terms of demographic, health, or lifestyle characteristics. No association was observed between cortisol levels, high perceived stress in the first trimester and rPTB. No differences were observed between women with versus without rPTB in terms of demographic, health, or lifestyle characteristics.
conclusionsPersistent and late-pregnancy high perceived stress are significant risk factors, associated with increased odds of rPTB.
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.