title: Sleep and 24-h activity rhythms in relation to cortisol change after a very low-dose of dexamethasone.
abstract: The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis plays an important role in sleep. Nevertheless, the association of sleep and its 24-h organization with negative feedback control of the HPA axis has received limited attention in population-based studies. We explored this association in 493 middle-aged persons of the Rotterdam Study, a large population-based study (mean age 56 years, standard deviation: 5.3 years; 57% female). The negative feedback of the HPA axis was measured as the change in morning saliva cortisol after the intake of 0.25mg dexamethasone the night before. Actigraphy allowed us to measure the stability and fragmentation of the activity rhythm and to estimate total sleep time, sleep onset latency and wake after sleep onset. A sleep diary kept during the week of actigraphy was used to assess self-reported total sleep time, sleep onset latency, number of awakenings and perceived sleep quality. In our study, enhanced negative feedback of the HPA axis was found in association with unstable activity rhythms (B=0.106, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.002; 0.210), total sleep time (B=0.108, 95%CI: 0.001; 0.215) and poor subjective sleep quality (B=0.107, 95%CI: 0.009; 0.206) after multivariate adjustment. These results indicated that the 24-h organization, duration and experience of sleep are all associated with the negative feedback control of the HPA axis.
authors: Department of Epidemiology, Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
authors: Annemarie I
authors: AI
authors: Luik
authors: Department of Epidemiology, Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
authors: Neşe
authors: N
authors: Direk
authors: Department of Epidemiology, Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
authors: Lisette A
authors: LA
authors: Zuurbier
authors: Department of Epidemiology, Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
authors: Albert
authors: A
authors: Hofman
authors: Department of Sleep and Cognition, Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, An Institute of the Netherlands Royal Academy of Arts and Sciences, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Departments of Integrative Neurophysiology and Medical Psychology, Center for Neurogenomics and Cognitive Research, Neuroscience Campus Amsterdam, VU University and Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors: Eus J W
authors: EJ
authors: Van Someren
authors: Department of Epidemiology, Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands; Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands; Department of Psychiatry, Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Electronic address: h.tiemeier@erasmusmc.nl.
authors: Henning
authors: H
authors: Tiemeier
mesh_terms: D056044:Actigraphy; D002940:Circadian Rhythm / Q000187:drug effects*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003907:Dexamethasone / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005260:Female; D005938:Glucocorticoids / Q000494:pharmacology*; D006801:Humans; D006854:Hydrocortisone / Q000378:metabolism*; D007030:Hypothalamo-Hypophyseal System / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000187:drug effects*; D010913:Pituitary-Adrenal System / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D012463:Saliva / Q000737:chemistry; D012890:Sleep / Q000187:drug effects*
chemical_list: D005938:Glucocorticoids; D003907:Dexamethasone; D006854:Hydrocortisone
keywords: Actigraphy; Circadian rhythm; Cortisol; Dexamethasone suppression test; Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis; Sleep