title: Sociodemographic, lifestyle, and psychosocial determinants of hair cortisol in a South London community sample.
abstract: Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) measures are crucial for research into stress and stress-related disorders. Most HPA measures fluctuate depending on diurnal rhythms and state confounders. Hair cortisol concentrations (HCC) are less susceptible to such fluctuations, but less is known about trait-like confounders. Using a community sample, we tested the relationship between HCC and a range of variables including demographic variables, hair treatment, and medication, as well as psychosocial variables, namely childhood trauma, critical life events, and depressive symptoms.
  
  
  
  Hair samples were collected from 144 individuals from the South East London Community Health (SELCoH) study. Childhood trauma, life events, and depressive symptoms were measured, together with age, sex, ethnicity, relationship status, educational attainment, employment status, occupational social class, hair washing frequency, hair treatments, season reflected in the hair sample, hazardous drinking, smoking, medication intake, and body mass index. Hair samples reflecting the past 3 months were collected and analysed using immunoassays. First, correlations (continuous variables) and simple linear regressions (dichotomous variables) were conducted to identify sociodemographic, hair-related, and lifestyle determinants of HCC. Next, multiple linear regressions were conducted to test the relationship between psychosocial variables and HCC when controlling for the identified confounders.
  
  
  
  Age (r=-0.17, p=0.050), White British ethnicity (β=-0.19, p=0.023), heat-based treatments (β=-0.22, p=0.010), and winter season (β=-0.18, p=0.024) were associated with lower HCC, whereas summer season (β=0.24, p=0.024), painkillers (β=0.25, p=0.003), anxiolytics/antidepressants (β=0.21, p=0.014), and hormonal contraceptives (β=0.27, p=0.006) were associated with higher HCC. Controlling for these confounders, physical neglect during childhood (β=-0.17, p=0.057), war-related experiences (β=0.20, p=0.027), separation (β=0.18, p=0.054), and being the victim of a serious crime (β=-0.17, p=0.062) were linked with altered HCC.
  
  
  
  Our findings suggest that variation in HCC occurs according to sociodemographic, hair-related, and lifestyle variables, and that certain associations between stress and altered HCC can only be revealed when accounting for these confounders.
authors.affiliation: King's College London, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, Psychological Medicine, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AF, United Kingdom. Electronic address: susanne.fischer@kcl.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Susanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fischer
authors.affiliation: King's College London, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, Psychological Medicine, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AF, United Kingdom; South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, Maudsley Hospital, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AF, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Roman
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Duncko
authors.affiliation: King's College London, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, Psychological Medicine, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AF, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Stephani L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Hatch
authors.affiliation: King's College London, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, Psychological Medicine, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AF, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Papadopoulos
authors.affiliation: King's College London, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, Psychological Medicine, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AF, United Kingdom; Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, L69 7ZA, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Goodwin
authors.affiliation: King's College London, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, Health Service & Population Research, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AF, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Souci
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Frissa
authors.affiliation: King's College London, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, Psychological Medicine, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AF, United Kingdom; South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, Maudsley Hospital, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AF, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Matthew
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hotopf
authors.affiliation: King's College London, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, Psychological Medicine, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AF, United Kingdom; South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, Maudsley Hospital, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AF, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Anthony J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Cleare
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000069586:Adult Survivors of Child Adverse Events / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006197:Hair / Q000737:chemistry; D006801:Humans; D006854:Hydrocortisone / Q000378:metabolism*; D008019:Life Style / Q000208:ethnology*; D008131:London / Q000208:ethnology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000378:metabolism*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D006854:Hydrocortisone
keywords: Childhood trauma; Hair cortisol; Life events; Lifestyle; Sociodemographic; Stress