Prenatal Stress during Pregnancy and Neuropsychological Development in mother-infants dyads: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

This study aims to systematically review and meta-analyze the evidence regarding the impact of prenatal maternal stress on neuropsychological development in mother–infant dyads. Following PRISMA 2020 guidelines, this review will include observational studies indexed in PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, PsycINFO, CINAHL, MEDLINE, EBSCOHOST, and Biblioteca Virtual en Salud (BVS/Cuiden). The study explores how prenatal stress—assessed through validated psychological instruments and biological markers such as cortisol—affects neuropsychological domains including cognition, executive function, attention, language, memory, and emotional–behavioral regulation. Data extraction and quality assessment will be conducted independently by two reviewers using ROBINS-E for risk of bias evaluation. When possible, results will be quantitatively synthesized through meta-analysis. ⸻ Authorship and Roles Principal Investigator: Vanesa Maria Salmeron-Vega Supervisors: Rafael A. Caparros-Gonzalez, Alejandro de la Torre-Luque Co-author & Reviewer: Laura Leonardo-Encabo Affiliation: Faculty of Health Sciences – Department of Nursing – University of Granada – COST Action CA22114 (TREASURE Network) ⸻ Keywords Prenatal stress · Maternal stress · Neurodevelopment · Neuropsychology · Pregnancy · Cortisol · Systematic review · Meta-analysis