Related Experiment Video
Updated: Mar 26, 2026
Using a Murine Model of Psychosocial Stress in Pregnancy as a Translationally Relevant Paradigm for Psychiatric Disorders in Mothers and Infants
Published on: June 13, 2021
Diurnal salivary cortisol patterns prior to pregnancy predict infant birth weight
Christine M Guardino1, Christine Dunkel Schetter1, Darby E Saxbe2
1Department of Psychology, University of California-Los Angeles.
Insights
Maternal stress hormone patterns between pregnancies impact infant birth weight. Flatter cortisol slopes during the interpregnancy interval predicted lower birth weight, highlighting the importance of maternal stress physiology.
Area of Science:
- Reproductive Health
- Endocrinology
- Developmental Psychology
Background:
- Maternal stress and stress hormones during pregnancy are linked to adverse birth outcomes.
- Fetal programming research shows associations between maternal stress and later-life offspring outcomes.
- The role of maternal stress physiology between pregnancies on birth outcomes is less understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis patterns during the interpregnancy interval and subsequent pregnancy predict infant birth weight.
- To explore the relationship between interpregnancy cortisol patterns and interpregnancy interval length.
Main Methods:
- Salivary cortisol was measured in 142 women before and during pregnancy.
- Multilevel modeling was used to analyze the association between cortisol slopes and infant birth weight.
- Demographic covariates were included in the analysis.
Main Results:
- Flatter diurnal cortisol slopes between pregnancies predicted lower infant birth weight.
- These interpregnancy cortisol patterns were associated with shorter interpregnancy intervals.
- Interpregnancy cortisol slopes predicted birth weight independently of pregnancy cortisol slopes.
Conclusions:
- Interpregnancy hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis function is a significant predictor of subsequent pregnancy outcomes.
- Maternal stress physiology between pregnancies is crucial for infant birth weight.
- Findings support life course health approaches to understanding pregnancy outcomes.
Objective:
Elevated maternal psychosocial stress during pregnancy and accompanying changes in stress hormones may contribute to risk of adverse birth outcomes such as low birth weight and preterm birth. Relatedly, research on fetal programming demonstrates intriguing associations between maternal stress processes during pregnancy and outcomes in offspring that extend into adulthood. The purpose of this study was to test whether hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) patterns in mothers during the period between 2 pregnancies (i.e., the interpregnancy interval) and during the subsequent pregnancy predict infant birth weight, a key birth outcome.
Method:
This study sampled salivary cortisol before and during pregnancy in a diverse community sample of 142 women enrolled in the Community Child Health Network study.
Results:
Using multilevel modeling, we found that flatter diurnal cortisol slopes in mothers during the interval between one birth and a subsequent pregnancy predicted lower infant birth weight of the subsequent child. This interpregnancy cortisol pattern in mothers also correlated with significantly shorter interpregnancy intervals, such that women with flatter cortisol slopes had more closely spaced pregnancies. After adding demographic covariates of household income, cohabitation with partner, and maternal race to the model, these results were unchanged. For participants who provided both interpregnancy and pregnancy cortisol data (n = 73), we found that interpregnancy cortisol slopes predicted infant birth weight independent of pregnancy cortisol slopes.
Conclusions:
These novel findings on interpregnancy HPA axis function and subsequent pregnancy outcomes strongly support life course health approaches and underscore the importance of maternal stress physiology between pregnancies. (PsycINFO Database Record
More Related Videos
04:20Author Spotlight: Exploring Microglial Interactions with Stress-Response Circuitry Using the Limited Bedding and Nesting Model
Published on: July 12, 2024
08:25Collecting Saliva and Measuring Salivary Cortisol and Alpha-amylase in Frail Community Residing Older Adults via Family Caregivers
Published on: December 18, 2013
