title: Hair Cortisol Analysis: A Promising Biomarker of HPA Activation in Older Adults.
abstract: Prolonged stress is a potentially harmful and often undetected risk factor for chronic illness in older adults. Cortisol, one indicator of the body's hormonal responses to stress, is regulated by the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and is commonly measured in saliva, urine, or blood samples. Cortisol possesses a diurnal pattern and thus collection timing is critical. Hair cortisol is a proxy measure to the total retrospective activity of the HPA axis over the preceding months, much like hemoglobin A1c is a proxy measure of glucose control over the past 3 months. The aim of this review is to examine a novel biomarker, hair cortisol, as a practical measure of long-term retrospective cortisol activity associated with chronic stress in older adults. Hair cortisol analysis advances the science of aging by better characterizing chronic stress as a risk factor for chronic illness progression and as a biomarker of the effectiveness of stress reduction interventions.
authors.affiliation: Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio. kdw39@case.edu.
authors.forename: Kathy D
authors.initials: KD
authors.lastname: Wright
authors.affiliation: Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio.
authors.forename: Ronald
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hickman
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Behavioral Immunology & Endocrinology Laboratory, School of Medicine, University of Colorado Denver Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora.
authors.forename: Mark L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Laudenslager
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000378:metabolism*; D006197:Hair / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D006854:Hydrocortisone / Q000378:metabolism*; D007030:Hypothalamo-Hypophyseal System / Q000378:metabolism*; D010913:Pituitary-Adrenal System / Q000378:metabolism*; D012189:Retrospective Studies
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D006854:Hydrocortisone
keywords: Chronic stress; Cortisol; HPA axis