@article{SendBardtkeGillesetal.2019,
  author    = {Send, Tabea and Bardtke, S. and Gilles, M. and Wolf, I. A. C. and S{\"u}tterlin, Marc Wolf and Wudy, S. A. and Wang, R. and Laucht, Manfred and Witt, Stephanie H. and Rietschel, Marcella and Streit, Fabian and Deuschle, Michael},
  title     = {Prenatal maternal stress is associated with lower cortisol and cortisone levels in the first morning urine of 45-month-old children},
  series = {Psychoneuroendocrinology},
  volume    = {103},
  journal   = {Psychoneuroendocrinology},
  publisher = {Elsevier},
  address   = {Oxford},
  issn      = {0306-4530},
  doi       = {10.1016/j.psyneuen.2019.01.017},
  pages     = {219 -- 224},
  year      = {2019},
  abstract  = {Prenatal stress (PS) has been related to altered hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis activity later in life. So far, studies in children assessing HPA axis functioning have focused on salivary cortisol, reflecting daytime activity. The present work is part of a prospective study and aims to extend knowledge about the association between PS and HPA axis regulation in children. To do so, we investigated cortisol, cortisone, and the ratio cortisone/(cortisone + cortisol) in the first morning urine of 45-month-old children in relation to several measures of maternal stress during pregnancy. Urinary cortisol and cortisone were measured by online turbulent flow chromatography coupled with high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. PS was defined as: perceived stress for aim 1 (Perceived Stress Scale; n = 280); presence of self-reported (n = 371) and expert-rated psychopathology for aim 2 (Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview; n = 281); continuous measures of anxiety and depression for exploratory aim 3 (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale; n = 280). The ratio cortisone/(cortisone + cortisol) as a global marker for the balance between the enzymes metabolizing cortisol to cortisone and vice versa (11 beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenases type 1 and 2; 11 beta-HSD1 and 2) was not associated with any measure of maternal PS (aims 1-3). The present study provides insight into possible programming effects of PS on nocturnal HPA axis activity and a proxy of 11 beta-HSD in a large sample. The results suggest that the nocturnal rate of cortisol production is lower in children exposed to PS, but do not support the hypothesis of divergent 11 beta-HSD activity.},
  language  = {en}
}