Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41586417›Full record

Trial reportFrontiers in global women's health2025

Glucocorticoids after birth trauma and the associated risk of developing posttraumatic stress disorder: a non-randomized open-label pilot trial.

Joanna A Kountanis, Maria Muzik, Graciela Mentz, Xinyi Zhao, Phillip E Vlisides

Abstract readClinical Trial
In one paragraph

Trial report in Frontiers in global women's health, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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0citing papers in PubMed
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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

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

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

5 authors.

Joanna A KountanisDepartment of Anesthesiology, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI, United States.
Maria MuzikDepartment of Obstetrics & Gynecology, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI, United States.
Graciela MentzDepartment of Anesthesiology, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI, United States.
Xinyi ZhaoDepartment of Anesthesiology, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI, United States.
Phillip E VlisidesDepartment of Anesthesiology, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI, United States.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Background: Postpartum posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) occurs commonly in individuals after childbirth and is associated with adverse maternal and neonatal outcomes. The primary objective of this pilot study was to determine the acceptability and feasibility of administering glucocorticoids to reduce posttraumatic stress symptoms after a traumatic birth event. Methods: This was a single-center, non-randomized, open-label pilot trial conducted at Michigan Medicine. Postpartum patients who screened positive for PTSD DSM-V Criterion A (felt a threat to life or injury to self or neonate) were enrolled. Participants self-selected to either (1) receive hydrocortisone within 12 h of the traumatic event or (2) defer hydrocortisone and remain in an observational control arm. Participants were assessed at the time of enrollment and multiple time points postpartum (days 3, 14, and 42) for posttraumatic stress symptoms using the City Birth Trauma Scale. The analysis compared the distribution of PTSD symptom scores in the intervention and control arms over time via weighted generalized estimating equations. Results: Study recruitment was highly successful, with 133 of 138 eligible patients (96%) enrolled, and only 9 of 261 approached patients (3%) refused to be screened for study participation. Among participants who chose to receive hydrocortisone, the study drug was administered within 12 h of birth in all cases (20/20, 100%). For the primary clinical outcome, PTSD score, 127 participants were included in the longitudinal analysis; Conclusions: These pilot findings demonstrate the acceptability and feasibility of enrolling obstetric patients into a pharmacologic clinical trial immediately postpartum. In those at high risk for PTSD, glucocorticoids did not decrease, and may have increased, PTSD symptomatology. Future larger and randomized trials are needed to confirm or refute these initial findings.

Indexed as

glucocorticoidshydrocortisonemothers/psychologyobstetricpostpartum hemorrhagepostpartum periodpregnancystress disorders—posttraumatic

Identifiers

PMID41586417
PMCPMC12827617

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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.