Salivary cortisol levels and mood vary by lifetime trauma exposure in a sample of healthy women (original) (raw)
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Biological Psychiatry, 2001
Background: Because traumatic events are unpredictable, there are few studies of psychobiological states immediately following such events. Our study aimed to determine the relation of salivary cortisol to psychologic distress immediately after a traumatic event and then during follow-up. Methods: Measurement of morning and evening salivary cortisol and ratings of psychologic distress (using the Impact of Events Scale [IES], the Post Traumatic Symptom Scale, and the General Health Questionnaire) were performed with 31 United Nations soldiers at three time points-5 days and 2 and 9 months-following a mine accident in Lebanon. Results: Five days after the accident, 15 subjects reported substantial posttraumatic distress according to the IES, as well as significantly lower morning and higher evening cortisol levels compared with the low-impact group. Within 9 months, the posttraumatic distress of the highimpact group was reduced, accompanied by an increase in morning and a decrease in evening cortisol levels. There were significant relationships between evening cortisol and all rating scales at the first and third time points. Conclusions: Subclinical posttraumatic stress following an adverse event can be measured biologically via salivary cortisol levels soon after the event. Biol Psychiatry 2001;50:986 -993
Salivary Cortisol Lower in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
Journal of Traumatic Stress, 2013
Altered cortisol has been demonstrated to be lower in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in most studies. This cross-sectional study evaluated salivary cortisol at waking, 30 minutes after, and bedtime in 51 combat veterans with PTSD compared to 20 veterans without PTSD. It also examined the relationship of cortisol to PTSD symptoms using two classifications: DSM-IV and the more recent four-factor classification proposed for DSM-V. The PTSD group had lower cortisol values than the control group (F(6, 69) = 3.35, p = .006). This significance did not change when adding age, body mass index, smoking, medications affecting cortisol, awakening time, sleep duration, season, depression, perceived stress, service era, combat exposure, and lifetime trauma as covariates. Post-hoc analyses revealed that the PTSD group had lower area under the curve ground and waking, 30min, and bedtime values while the cortisol awakening response and area under the curve increase were not different between groups. The four-factor avoidance PTSD symptom cluster was associated with cortisol but not the other symptom clusters. This study supports the finding that cortisol is lower in people with PTSD.
Psychoneuroendocrinology, 2010
Dysregulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA)-axis is hypothesized to underlie stress-related psychiatric disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). We aimed to explore whether trauma exposure is associated with alterations in HPA-axis functioning in the absence of lifetime psychiatric morbidity. We included 39 trauma-exposed healthy male subjects (mean age=47 years; SD=9.2) and 24 non-exposed healthy male controls (mean age=47.4 years; SD=14.5). All subjects were free of lifetime psychopathology. Basal salivary cortisol levels (on two consecutive days) as well as the cortisol and adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) response to the combined dexamethasone/corticotropin releasing hormone (Dex/CRH) challenge test were analyzed using general linear models (GLM) adjusted for body mass index, age and smoking status. A blunted salivary cortisol awakening response was found in the exposed group compared to the non-exposed group (F(1,57)=5.46, p=.02). Consistent with...
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2020
Alteration in cortisol response to acute social stressors has been hypothesized to mediate childhood adversities (CA) and increased morbidity in adulthood. However, the evidence supporting an association between CA and cortisol response to social stressors is inconclusive. The present review addressed this issue by reviewing the literature on CA and cortisol response to acute social stressors, with a focus on studies with adolescents or adults, using the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) to assess CA, and examining salivary cortisol response to the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST). Systematic searches of relevant articles in PsycINFO, PubMed, Web of Science and ScienceDirect in February and March 2020 identified 12 articles including 1196 participants with mean ages ranging from 15.3 to 52.3 yrs. across studies. CTQ scores were significantly associated with cortisol response in 2 studies. In addition, the physical abuse and emotional neglect subscales were associated with cortisol...
Anxiety, Stress, & Coping, 2018
Background and Objectives: To better understand how trauma leads to poor health, this study examined whether cumulative trauma and emotion reactivity contribute to pro-(IL-1β) and anti-inflammatory (IL-10) salivary cytokine levels after stress. Design: Seventy-three women, screened to be physically and mentally healthy, completed an acute stress paradigm and measures of lifetime trauma exposure. Method: Saliva was collected 10 min before (i.e., baseline) and 35 min after the onset of a 10-min stressor. State negative and positive emotion were measured at baseline and post-stress. Results: Most participants reported exposure to at least one trauma, with a mean of five. Cumulative trauma was associated with higher post-stress IL-1β and IL-1β/IL-10, but not with IL-10 or changes in emotion. Declines in positive emotion correlated with greater post-stress IL-1β. Conclusions: These findings suggest that both cumulative trauma exposure and positive emotion have implications for salivary cytokine responses to acute stress. The inclusion of healthy women strengthens internal validity, and increases confidence that observed associations between trauma and salivary cytokine responses can be attributed to trauma, rather than to confounding health problems. This study adds to the growing literature examining how trauma may connect to cytokines, and ultimately, poor health.
My graduate training, and this dissertation, was made possible by my mentor and dissertation chair, Dr. Tamara Newton, who invited me into her lab. Through my doctoral training, I have grown tremendously as a researcher, writer, and thinker. I would like to thank her for her support and guidance, which have allowed me to shape my interests and build my identity as a researcher. I would also like to thank my dissertation committee, Drs. Fernandez-Botran, Lewine, Sephton and Depue, for their feedback related to my study and its contribution. My sincere thanks are extended to everyone in the Stress & Health Lab, including my labmate and peer mentor Kimberly Fleming, labmate Samantha Patton, and wonderful research assistants Rachael Parrill, Emily Schnider and Kandi Stinson. I would also like to express my gratitude to my friends and colleagues, particularly René Bayley-Veloso for being my cheerleader and voice of reason for the last five years, Ashlee Warnecke for her unwavering support, pep talks and invaluable feedback and Frances Deavers for late night comradery during internship. Finally, I would like to thank my recreational sports teams because without lots of play, I would not have been able to accomplish so much work. Finally, I would like to sincerely thank the women who participated in this study and the agencies which supported this research (see Appendix A).
The role of cortisol in PTSD among women exposed to a trauma-related stressor
Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 2012
Research linking post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to hypercortisolism in laboratory experiments was extended to a natural clinical setting. Mothers of children diagnosed with a lifethreatening illness (N = 92) completed standardized measures of PTSD and provided a salivary cortisol sample during their child's medical checkup (Time 1) and again 24 h later, after the threat of possible negative medical reports was removed (Time 2). Women who met diagnostic criteria for PTSD exhibited significantly higher cortisol levels at Time 1 compared to women who did not meet criteria for a diagnosis. No significant differences were observed for cortisol levels at Time 2 between the women with and without PTSD. These findings extend current laboratory findings linking hypercortisolism and PTSD to a natural, stressful situation. Implications for understanding the etiology of PTSD as well as for possible prevention and intervention options are discussed.