title: The rate of urinary cortisol excretion at work is persistently elevated in women at familial risk for breast cancer.
abstract: We recently reported that healthy women at familial risk for breast cancer (FH+) have higher urinary cortisol levels at work than women without familial risk (FH-). The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether this group difference persisted over a 1-month period. Subjects were healthy women (FH+, N = 42, age = 37.6 +/- 9.3, FH-, N = 93, age 38.4 +/- 9.0) employed primarily in clerical or technical positions at three medical centers in New York City who collected timed urine samples in three contrasting daily environments, at work ( approximately 11AM-3PM), home (approximately 6PM-10PM) and during sleep (approximately 10PM-6AM) on 2 mid-week workdays approximately 1 month apart. Two-way repeated measures ANOVA revealed that cortisol excretion differed across the environments (P < 0.001), and that there was also a significant interaction between daily environment and family history group (P < 0.049), such that FH+ women maintained higher cortisol excretion at work over the 2 days than FH- women. A Bland-Altman plot showed that both overall and by family history group, the rate of cortisol excretion at work was generally reproducible, although there was a heteroscadasticity in the relationship that likely reflected excessive stressfulness on one of the study days in a small minority of subjects. These results suggest that the presence of a potent background stressor (familial breast cancer risk) can influence more acute cortisol responses in daily life over time.
authors.affiliation: The Institute for Primary and Preventative Health Care and Decker School of Nursing, Binghamton University-SUNY, Binghamton, New York 13902, USA. gdjames@binghamton.edu
authors.forename: Gary D
authors.initials: GD
authors.lastname: James
authors.forename: Heidi J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Gastrich
authors.forename: Heiddis B
authors.initials: HB
authors.lastname: Valdimarsdottir
authors.forename: Dana H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Bovbjerg
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000652:urine; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics* / Q000523:psychology / Q000652:urine*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006854:Hydrocortisone / Q000652:urine*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009519:New York City / Q000453:epidemiology; D010865:Pilot Projects; D012307:Risk Factors; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000209:etiology*; D017132:Workplace / Q000523:psychology*
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D006854:Hydrocortisone