title: Predictors of hair cortisol concentrations in older adults.
abstract: People at older ages are at increased risk for developing stress-related diseases associated with chronically elevated cortisol secretion. However, the main factors contributing to such endocrine alterations in this age group are still largely unknown. This cross-sectional study examined patterns of long-term integrated cortisol secretion, as assessed in hair, in a sample of 654 participants in middle and old adulthood (mean age: 65.8 years; range: 47-82 years) from the German cohort of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study in Potsdam. Hair cortisol concentrations (HCC) were determined from the first scalp-near 3 cm hair segment and several sociodemographic, lifestyle, anthropometric, disease-related, and psychological parameters were assessed. In simple linear regressions, HCC were found to increase with participants' age and to be higher in men compared to women. HCC also showed positive associations with waist-to-hip ratio, waist circumference, smoking, prevalent type 2 diabetes mellitus, mental health, daytime sleeping, and being unemployed or retired--as well as a negative association with diastolic blood pressure. After full mutual adjustment, only age and smoking remained independent predictors of HCC. The association between prevalent type 2 diabetes mellitus and HCC was attenuated but still persisted independently in women. Similar, a positive relationship between HCC and alcohol consumption was found in women. The current results confirm previous evidence of positive associations of HCC with age, sex, alcohol consumption, and type 2 diabetes mellitus and add new knowledge on factors--such as smoking--that may contribute to elevated cortisol levels in people at older ages.
authors.affiliation: German Institute of Human Nutrition Potsdam-Rehbruecke, Department of Epidemiology, 14558 Nuthetal, Germany. Electronic address: silke.feller@dife.de.
authors.forename: Silke
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Feller
authors.affiliation: German Institute of Human Nutrition Potsdam-Rehbruecke, Department of Epidemiology, 14558 Nuthetal, Germany.
authors.forename: Matthaeus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vigl
authors.affiliation: German Institute of Human Nutrition Potsdam-Rehbruecke, Department of Epidemiology, 14558 Nuthetal, Germany.
authors.forename: Manuela M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Bergmann
authors.affiliation: German Institute of Human Nutrition Potsdam-Rehbruecke, Department of Epidemiology, 14558 Nuthetal, Germany.
authors.forename: Heiner
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Boeing
authors.affiliation: Technical University of Dresden, Department of Psychology, 01069 Dresden, Germany.
authors.forename: Clemens
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kirschbaum
authors.affiliation: Technical University of Dresden, Department of Psychology, 01069 Dresden, Germany.
authors.forename: Tobias
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Stalder
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001794:Blood Pressure; D015992:Body Mass Index; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006197:Hair / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans; D006854:Hydrocortisone / Q000032:analysis*; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012907:Smoking / Q000503:physiopathology*; D055105:Waist Circumference; D049629:Waist-Hip Ratio
chemical_list: D006854:Hydrocortisone
keywords: Age; Chronic stress; Elderly; Hair cortisol; Human; Older age; Predictors