When stress happens matters: Effects of earthquake timing on stress responsivity in pregnancy

Abstract

As pregnancy advances, women become decreasingly sensitive to the effects of stress. This decrease in vulnerability may reflect increasing protection of the mother and fetus from adverse influences during pregnancy.

Cortisol and anxiety response to a relaxing intervention on pregnant women awaiting amniocentesis

“…This result contrasts with the study of Sarkar et al (2006), who found no association between gestation age and anxiety level, but is in agreement with the claim that, as pregnancy advances, the psychological response to stress becomes progressively attenuated. A possible explanation might be that elevated levels of hormones, such as cortisol and corticotropin-releasing hormone, would down-regulate the corticotropic system accounting for a dampened response of the HPA axis (Glynn et al, 2001(Glynn et al, , 2004. The scores on both S-STAI and T-STAI decreased in all groups following the 30 min relaxation period.…”

Civil conflict, gender-specific fetal loss, and selection: A new test of the Trivers–Willard hypothesis

“…Many of these deaths can be prevented by appropriate medical attention during delivery, and the quality of this medical attention may be well captured by district fixed effects. In addition, individual heterogeneity in reporting a stillbirth is likely 19 Medical studies suggest that pregnancy outcomes can be affected by maternal psychological stress experienced up to month 6 of pregnancy (see: Glynn et al (2001) for a reduction in gestational length increasing with exposure earlier in the pregnancy; Torche & Kleinhaus (2012) for an effect on preterm birth for exposure during months 2 and 3; Dancause et al (2011) for an increase in preterm births and lower birth weight for exposure during early to mid-pregnancy; Class et al (2011) for an effect until months 5 and 6, and especially during these months, on gestational age, preterm birth, low birth weight and size for gestational age. Evidence on the impact of maternal malnutrition on fetal and infant health tends to suggest that it is most detrimental the later it occurs in pregnancy (Stein & Susser (1975), Roseboom et al (2001), and Painter et al (2005).…”

Neurodevelopmental Outcomes of Prenatal Stress

“…[25] Yapılan birçok çalışmada ikinci üç ayda yaşanan stres daha olumsuz sonuçlarla ilişkilendirilmesine rağmen, diğer çalışmalarda geç dönemdeki stresin daha etkin olduğu bildirilmiştir. [3,[26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36] Gebeliğin ortaları beyin gelişiminde de önemli bir dönemin başlangıcıdır. HPA'nın stresin etkilerinde önemli bir rol oynadığı varsayılırsa, fetal HPA orta gestasyonel dönem sonrasında işlevsel hale gelmektedir.…”