Impact of prenatal stress on offspring glucocorticoid levels: A phylogenetic meta-analysis across 14 vertebrate species.

ABSTRACT: Prenatal exposure to maternal stress is commonly associated with variation in Hypothalamic Pituitary Adrenal (HPA)-axis functioning in offspring. However, the strength or consistency of this response has never been empirically evaluated across vertebrate species. Here we meta-analyzed 114 results from 39 studies across 14 vertebrate species using Bayesian phylogenetic mixed-effects models. We found a positive overall effect of prenatal stress on offspring glucocorticoids (d' = 0.43) though the 95% Highest Posterior Density Interval overlapped with 0 (-0.16-0.95). Meta-regressions of potential moderators highlighted that phylogeny and life history variables predicted relatively little variation in effect size. Experimental studies (d' = 0.64) produced stronger effects than observational one

SUBMITTER: Thayer ZM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5862967 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature