Fig 1. Dynamics of cortisol levels measured in pregnant women during pregnancy determined at different ANC visits.

Legend: NS: not significant; V: visit. Code: *: <0.05; **: <0.01; ***: <0.001; ****: <0.0001. In each case, 30μl of plasma was used to determine for cortisol level in blood (ng/ml). Cortisol levels were compared between multigravidae and primigravidae at each scheduled visits and presented as box and whisker plots illustration: top, bottom and middle of box, representing 25^th, 75^th and 50^th percentiles, respectively. In both group, cortisol concentration increased in a sawtooth pattern during pregnancy with peaks at V2(28^th±1 week) and V4 32^th ±1 week), before decreasing at V5 which is part of post-partum.