SynthesisThe Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism2025
Development of 24-Hour Rhythms in Cortisol Secretion Across Infancy: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Individual Participant Data.
Synthesis in The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Development of 24-Hour Rhythms in Cortisol Secretion Across Infancy: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Individual Participant Data.The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism · 2025Pooled it
- Circadian rhythms of arousal in parent-child interaction: a 24-hour co-regulation process.Child development perspectives · 2026Article
- Neonatologists' practices in screening and managing corticosteroid-induced adrenal insufficiency in the NICU- a multicenter study.Journal of perinatology : official journal of the California Perinatal Association · 2026Review
- Early Life Stress Effects on Children's Biology, Behavior, and Health: Evidence, Mediators, Moderators, and Solutions.Annual review of psychology · 2026Review
- Current insights into monitoring of congenital adrenal hyperplasia.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2026Review
- Emotion and Feeling in Parent-Child Dyads: Neurocognitive and Psychophysiological Pathways of Development.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Investigating the Impact of Maternal Stress on Milk Glucocorticoids: A Multimethod Approach.Psychophysiology · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
23 authors.
Funding
Abstract
contextIn adults, cortisol levels show a pronounced 24-hour rhythm with a peak in the early morning. It is unknown at what age this early-morning peak in cortisol emerges during infancy, hampering the establishment of optimal dosing regimens for hydrocortisone replacement therapy in infants with an inborn form of adrenal insufficiency.
objectiveWe aimed to characterize daily variation in salivary cortisol concentration across the first year of life.
methodsWe conducted a systematic review followed by an individual participant data meta-analysis of studies reporting on spontaneous (ie, not stress-induced) salivary cortisol concentrations in healthy infants aged 0-1 year. A one-stage approach using linear mixed-effects modeling was used to determine the interaction between age and time of day on cortisol concentrations.
resultsThrough the systematic review, 54 eligible publications were identified, reporting on 29 177 cortisol observations. Individual participant data were obtained from 15 study cohorts, combining 17 079 cortisol measurements from 1904 infants. The morning/evening cortisol ratio increased significantly from 1.7 (95% CI: 1.3-2.1) at birth to 3.7 (95% CI: 3.0-4.5) at 6 to 9 months (P < .0001). Cosinor analysis using all available data revealed the gradual emergence of a 24-hour rhythm during infancy.
conclusionThe early-morning peak in cortisol secretion gradually emerges from birth onwards to form a stable morning/evening ratio from age 6 to 9 months. This might have implications for hydrocortisone replacement therapy in infants with an inborn form of adrenal insufficiency.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.