Salivary cortisol response to a psychosocial stressor on children diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: differences between diagnostic subtypes.
The purpose of the present study was to compare the reactivity of the HPA-axis in children diagnosed with different subtypes of ADHD against a healthy control group. This study included a total of 66 children: 33 children with ADHD diagnoses (10 with prevalent inattentive symptoms, 9 with prevalent hyperactive-impulsive symptoms and 14 with the combined subtype) and 33 healthy controls. The Trier Stress Social Test for Children (TSST-C) was employed as stressor. This test included two main stressors: first, completing a story initiated by an interviewer, and second, executing a timed cognitive task. Saliva samples were then obtained at -1, and +1, +10, +20 and +30 minutes with respect to the stress-inducing task. While the repeated-measures ANOVA showed a statistically significant time effect, the expected cortisol stress-response was not observed in any group. A difference was observed in the response from the hyperactive-impulsive group that was also observed in the AUC(G) comparisons with the subgroups. The ADHD group with prevalent hyperactivity-impulsive symptoms showed more significantly reduced cortisol levels than the control group and other experimental subgroup with prevalent inattentive symptoms.
Maldonado
Enrique F
EF
Department of Psychobiology, University of Malaga, Campus Teatinos, C.P. 29071 Malaga, Spain. fcomm@uma.es
Trianes
Ma Victoria
MV
Cortés
Antonio
A
Moreno
Encarnación
E
Escobar
Milagros
M
D001143:Arousal / Q000502:physiology*; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000097:blood* / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006854:Hydrocortisone / Q000097:blood*; D008297:Male; D012016:Reference Values; D012463:Saliva / Q000737:chemistry; D013030:Spain; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000097:blood / Q000150:complications*
D006854:Hydrocortisone