title: Hair cortisone level is associated with PTSD׳s dysphoric arousal symptoms in highly traumatized Chinese females.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Cortisone has been proposed as a useful additional biomarker for stress research. However, only very limited studies has investigated alterations of cortisone levels in stress-related mental disorder such as PTSD. The present study investigated the associations between PTSD symptomatology and hair cortisone levels which can reflect cumulative cortisone secretion over prolonged periods of time and is more robust to the influence of situational confounding.
  
  
  METHODS
  Participants included 201 females who experienced 2008 Wenchuan earthquake and lost their children during the disaster. PTSD symptoms were assessed with the PTSD Checklist (PCL), and depression symptoms with the Center for epidemiological studies depression scale (CES-D). Hair cortisone levels were quantified by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometer.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The results indicated that although hair cortisone secretion could not distinguish traumatized individuals with and without PTSD, it was uniquely linked to dysphoric arousal symptoms, a key aspect of the complex PTSD phenotype
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A sample of females exposed to specific traumatic events was used, and PTSD was assessed using a self-reported measure.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The findings provide preliminary evidence supporting the critical role of long-term cortisone changes in the development and maintenance of PTSD symptoms, and add to extant knowledge on the neuroendocrinological underpinnings of posttraumatic psychopathology.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Weiwen
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Research Center for Learning Science, Southeast University, Nanjing, China.
authors.forename: Huihua
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Deng
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China. Electronic address: wangli1@psych.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Chengqi
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Hang
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Jianxin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001143:Arousal / Q000502:physiology*; D002681:China; D003348:Cortisone / Q000378:metabolism*; D004190:Disasters; D055866:Earthquakes; D005260:Female; D006197:Hair / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D003348:Cortisone
keywords: 5-Factor PTSD model; Cortisone; Females; Hair; PTSD