Associations of prenatal and perinatal factors with cortisol diurnal pattern and reactivity to stress at preschool age among children living in poverty

Objective: to examine the association of pre- and perinatal factors with diurnal cortisol pattern and reactivity to a stressor at preschool age among children living in poverty. methods: preschool aged children (n=275) provided saliva samples 3 times per day for 3 days to assess circadian rhythmicity (intercept and slope reflected diurnal pattern) and during a behavioral stress elicitation protocol to measure reactivity (5 samples before,during and after the stressor). pre- and perinatal predictors were pregnancy weight gain,pre-pregnancy body mass index (bmi),infant birth weight z-score and gestational age. we ran 7 linear regression models predicting each of the cortisol outcomes including all pre-and perinatal predictors and covariates simultaneously. results: greater pregnancy weight gain predicted higher morning cortisol [β=0.020 (se 0.007),p=0.003]. greater pregnancy weight gain also predicted higher cortisol at recovery from the stressor in girls only [β=0.002 (se 0.001),p=0.036]. there was no association of pre-pregnancy bmi with any cortisol outcome. higher birth weight z-score predicted higher morning cortisol in the total sample [β=0.134 (se 0.066,p=0.043]. greater gestational age predicted lower cortisol during peak stress in the sample who underwent cortisol reactivity testing [β=-0.015 (se 0.007),p=0.032] and in boys [β=-0.032 (se 0.014),p=0.027]. conclusion: pre- and perinatal factors are associated with cortisol patterning in offspring at preschool age. the implications for child health require additional studies. © journal of clinical research in pediatric endocrinology,published by galenos publishing.