title: [Establishment of circadian rhythm of cortisol in newborn and older children (author's transl)].
abstract: In 30 children, 19 males and 11 females, aged 5 days to 36 months admitted for reasons other than neurological, endocrine, hepatic or renal diseases, the plasma cortisol levels at 9.00 and 20.00 hr. was studied to ascertain the time of appearance of a pattern of circadian rhythm comparable to adults. Children were arbitrarily divided into three groups according to their age: group I (n = 9) 5 days to 6 months; group II (n = 13) 7 to 17 months and group III (n = 8) 24 to 36 months old. The plasma corticol levels at 9.00 and 20.00 hr. were respectively for each group (X +/- SD): 12.7 +/- 8.0; 10.9 +/- 8.62; 17.7 +/- 6.65; 11.9 +/- 7.5 and 21.6 +/- 4.67; 9.7 +/- 3.8 microgram/100 ml. Evidence for circadian rhythm was statistically demonstrated only in group III and from these individual results the criteria to be satisfied as evidence of rhythm are: the cortisol value at 20.00 hr. must be less than or equal to 15.0 microgram/100 ml. with a decrease greater than or equal to 30% compared to basal (9.00 hr.) value. Only 7 out of 13 children in group II and 4 out of the 9 children in group I conform such criteria. These results show that the circadian rhythm of cortisol might be used as a valuable test to study adrenal function in children from the age of two.
mesh_terms: D000311:Adrenal Glands / Q000378:metabolism*; D000367:Age Factors; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002940:Circadian Rhythm; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006854:Hydrocortisone / Q000097:blood*; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D012016:Reference Values; D012636:Secretory Rate
chemical_list: D006854:Hydrocortisone
vernacular_title: Establecimiento del ritmo circadiano de cortisol en lactantes y niños de corta edad.