@article{GillesOttoWolfetal.2018, author = {Gilles, Maria and Otto, Henrike and Wolf, Isabell A. C. and Scharnholz, Barbara and Peus, Verena and Schredl, Michael and Suetterlin, Marc W. and Witt, Stephanie H. and Rietschel, Marcella and Laucht, Manfred and Deuschle, Michael}, title = {Maternal hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) system activity and stress measures at birth}, series = {Psychoneuroendocrinology}, volume = {94}, journal = {Psychoneuroendocrinology}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Oxford}, issn = {0306-4530}, doi = {10.1016/j.psyneuen.2018.04.022}, pages = {152 -- 161}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Background: Prenatal maternal stress might be a risk for the developing fetus and may have long-lasting effects on child and adult vulnerability to somatic and psychiatric disease. Over-exposure of the unborn to excess glucocorticoids and subsequent alteration of fetal development is hypothesized to be one of the key mechanisms linking prenatal stress with negative child outcome. Methods: In this prospective longitudinal study, mothers-to-be (n = 405) in late pregnancy (36.8 +/- 1.9 weeks of gestational age) and their singleton neonates were studied. We investigated the impact of different prenatal stress indices derived from six stress variables (perceived stress, specific prenatal worries, negative life events, symptoms of depression, trait anxiety, neuroticism) and diurnal maternal saliva cortisol secretion on gestational age and anthropometric measures at birth.}, language = {en} }