title: Elevated hair cortisol levels in chronically stressed dementia caregivers.
abstract: Hair cortisol concentrations (HCC) are assumed to reflect integrated long-term cortisol levels and have been proposed as a promising endocrine marker of chronic psychological stress. The current study examined HCC in relation to caregiving burden, a well-established naturalistic model of chronic stress in humans. HCC and relevant psychosocial data were examined in 20 caregivers of relatives with dementia and 20 non-caregiver controls matched for age and sex. Results revealed elevated HCC in dementia caregivers compared to non-caregiver controls (F(1,38)=4.4, p=.04, ηp2=.10). Further, within caregivers, a trend for a positive association of HCC with self-reported caregiving burden (r=.43, p=.058) and a positive association with depressiveness (r=.48, p=.045) were observed. No other associations between HCC and subjective measures were seen. These findings concur with the notion that HCC sensitively capture endocrine aberrations in stress-exposed groups.
authors.affiliation: Technische Universität Dresden, Department of Psychology, Dresden, Germany. Electronic address: tobias.stalder@tu-dresden.de.
authors.forename: Tobias
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Stalder
authors.affiliation: Technische Universität Dresden, Department of Psychology, Dresden, Germany.
authors.forename: Antje
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tietze
authors.affiliation: Technische Universität Dresden, Department of Psychology, Dresden, Germany.
authors.forename: Susann
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Steudte
authors.affiliation: Technische Universität Dresden, Department of Psychology, Dresden, Germany.
authors.forename: Nina
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Alexander
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Psychology, University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf, Germany.
authors.forename: Lucia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Dettenborn
authors.affiliation: Technische Universität Dresden, Department of Psychology, Dresden, Germany.
authors.forename: Clemens
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kirschbaum
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003704:Dementia / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006197:Hair / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D006854:Hydrocortisone / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000378:metabolism*; D015854:Up-Regulation
chemical_list: D006854:Hydrocortisone
keywords: Caregiver; Chronic; Cortisol; Depression; Hair; Human; Stress