title: Associations of acute and chronic stress hormones with cognitive functions in autism spectrum disorder.
abstract: Extensive studies have reported cognitive abnormalities in neurodevelopmental disorders, such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Another line of evidence suggests that stress also affects cognitive functions. In this study, we investigated whether there were associations between stress hormones and cognitive functions in ASD and typically developing (TD) children. Cognitive functions in ASD and TD children were evaluated with a battery of psychological tests for working memory, behavioral flexibility, and social cognition for emotional assessments of others. ASD children exhibited higher hair and salivary cortisol, which reflects chronic and acute stress hormone levels of subjects, respectively, than TD children. Autism-spectrum quotient (AQ) was positively correlated with hair cortisol and the scores of Spence Children's Anxiety Scale in ASD children. In addition, a negative correlation was present between spatial working memory performance and hair cortisol in ASD, but not in TD, children. These results suggest that chronic stress hormone elevation may have relationships with some aspects of cognitive dysfunction in ASD subjects.
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Human and Environmental Studies, Kyoto University, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan.
authors.forename: Shino
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ogawa
authors.affiliation: Department of Food Science and Nutrition, Catholic University of Daegu, Gyeongsan 38430, South Korea.
authors.forename: Young-A
authors.initials: YA
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University, Inuyama, Aichi 484-8506, Japan.
authors.forename: Yoshie
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yamaguchi
authors.affiliation: Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University, Inuyama, Aichi 484-8506, Japan.
authors.forename: Yuka
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shibata
authors.affiliation: Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University, Inuyama, Aichi 484-8506, Japan. Electronic address: goto.yukiori.5c@kyoto-u.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Yukiori
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Goto
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000293:Adolescent; D000067877:Autism Spectrum Disorder / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000523:psychology*; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000378:metabolism; D002648:Child; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006197:Hair / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D006854:Hydrocortisone / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012372:ROC Curve; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D065852:Spatial Memory / Q000502:physiology; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D006854:Hydrocortisone
keywords: anxiety; biomarker; cortisol; neurodevelopmental disorder; working memory