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Postpartum depression and depressive symptoms have a major impact on maternal and infant health and well-being, yet to date their aetiology remains unclear. One hypothesis suggests a link between these symptoms and variations in prenatal cortisol levels, but existing evidence is limited and inconclusive. This study aims to provide additional evidence to disentangle the relationship between prenatal cortisol concentrations and subsequent occurrence of postpartum depressive symptoms. Cortisol for all three trimesters of pregnancy was extracted from the hair of 775 women participating in the French ELFE cohort. Depressive symptomatology at two months postpartum was assessed through the Edinburgh Postpartum Depression Scale (EPDS). Associations between prenatal cortisol levels and EPDS scores were tested using propensity-score weighted logistic regression models to control for confounders. An increase in mean cortisol concentrations was observed from the first to the third trimester of pregnancy. No significant differences in hair cortisol concentrations were found during the first and second trimesters between women who experienced postpartum depressive symptoms and those who did not. However, an association was observed between third trimester hair cortisol concentrations and depressive symptoms at two months postpartum. Women whose cortisol concentrations fell within the second quartile had a higher risk of subsequent PPDS (aOR = 2.67, 95%CI [1.01, 7.08]). Using a large sample from the general population, we observed an association between hair cortisol levels during the third trimester of pregnancy and postpartum depressive symptoms. Nevertheless, our results suggest that future studies could benefit from investigating other biomarkers of the reactivity of the corticotropic axis., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Exposure to maternal depressive and anxious symptomatology in utero and after birth can affect child outcomes. One proposed mechanism is through changes in child stress hormone levels, however current studies present inconsistent findings, and further research is needed to better understand the impact of maternal mental health on child stress response. This study aims to add to the limited literature by analysing longitudinal data ranging from 24 weeks amenorrhea to 5 years postpartum among 281 mother-child pairs from the French EDEN mother-child birth cohort. Hair cortisol and cortisone data were collected from children at four time points: birth, 1, 3, and 5 years. Mothers reported depressive symptomatology via the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) (at 24-weeks amenorrhea, 3-, and 5-year follow-up), and the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) (at 4, 8 and 12 months postpartum). Prenatal anxiety symptomatology was measured via the State Anxiety Inventory (STAI) at 24 weeks amenorrhea. Group-based trajectory modelling indicated a 1-cluster classification of longitudinal child hair cortisol, cortisone and cortisol-to-cortisone ratio, as analyses did not reveal a classification by subgroups representing different child profiles. After inverse probability weighting, small effects showed prenatal depressive symptomatology was significantly associated to higher levels of child hair cortisone at one year. Prenatal anxiety symptomatology was significantly linked to higher levels of child cortisol measured at birth and cortisone at birth and at 1 year. Postpartum depressive symptomatology at 8 months was related to higher levels of cortisone among 3-year-olds. These effects were not moderated by child sex or maternal socio-economic status. Further research is needed to understand why there are associations at some time points and not others to determine any potential buffering factors., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no competing interests. Conflict of interest We have no conflicts of interest to disclose., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)