Maternal early pregnancy body mass index and diurnal salivary cortisol in young adult offspring

Highlights
• Higher maternal early pregnancy BMI is associated with lower diurnal salivary cortisol levels in young adult offspring, especially in the morning.

• Higher maternal early pregnancy body mass index (BMI) is associated with lower salivary cortisol levels at awakening in young adult offspring.

• Whether these findings reflect prenatal programming of the offspring HPA-axis activity warrants further investigation