title: Cortisol Awakening Response and Acute Stress Reactivity in First Nations People.
abstract: First Nations people globally have a higher incidence of mental disorders and non-communicable diseases. These health inequalities are partially attributed to a complex network of social and environmental factors which likely converge on chronic psychosocial stress. We hypothesized that alterations in stress processing and the regulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis might underlie health disparities in First Nations people. We assessed the cortisol awakening response and the dynamic response to a laboratory induced psychosocial stress of young Indigenous tertiary students (n = 11, mean age 23.82 years) and non-Indigenous students (n = 11) matched for age and gender. Indigenous participants had a blunted cortisol awakening response (27.40 (SD 35.00) vs. 95.24 (SD 55.23), p = 0.002), which was differentially associated with chronic experience of stress in Indigenous (r = -0.641, p = 0.046) and non-Indigenous (r = 0.652, p = 0.03) participants. The cortisol response to the laboratory induced psychosocial stress did not differ between groups. Self-reported racial discrimination was strongly associated with flattened cortisol response to stress (r = -0676, p = 0.022) and with heart rate variability (r = 0.654, p = 0.040). Our findings provide insight into potential biological factors underlying health discrepancies in ethnic minority groups.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Psychiatric Neuroscience, Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine, 1 James Cook Drive, Townsville, 4811 QLD, Australia.|College of Public Health, Medical and Veterinary Sciences, 1 James Cook Drive, Townsville, 4811 QLD, Australia.
authors.forename: Maximus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Berger
authors.affiliation: College of Healthcare Sciences, 1 James Cook Drive, Townsville, 4811 QLD, Australia.
authors.forename: Anthony
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Leicht
authors.affiliation: College of Public Health, Medical and Veterinary Sciences, 1 James Cook Drive, Townsville, 4811 QLD, Australia.
authors.forename: Angela
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Slatcher
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Psychiatric Neuroscience, Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine, 1 James Cook Drive, Townsville, 4811 QLD, Australia.|College of Public Health, Medical and Veterinary Sciences, 1 James Cook Drive, Townsville, 4811 QLD, Australia.
authors.forename: Ann Katrin
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Kraeuter
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Psychiatric Neuroscience, Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine, 1 James Cook Drive, Townsville, 4811 QLD, Australia.|College of Public Health, Medical and Veterinary Sciences, 1 James Cook Drive, Townsville, 4811 QLD, Australia.
authors.forename: Sarangan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ketheesan
authors.affiliation: Anton Breinl Research Centre for Health Systems Strengthening, AITHM, 1 James Cook Drive, Townsville, 4811 QLD, Australia.|College of Medicine and Dentistry, 1 James Cook Drive, Townsville, 4811 QLD, Australia.
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Larkins
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Psychiatric Neuroscience, Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine, 1 James Cook Drive, Townsville, 4811 QLD, Australia.|College of Public Health, Medical and Veterinary Sciences, 1 James Cook Drive, Townsville, 4811 QLD, Australia.
authors.forename: Zoltán
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Sarnyai
mesh_terms: D002940:Circadian Rhythm / Q000187:drug effects; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate; D006801:Humans; D006854:Hydrocortisone / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008297:Male; D055099:Neuroendocrine Cells / Q000378:metabolism; D011584:Psychology; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000379:methods; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000188:drug therapy*; D014851:Wakefulness / Q000187:drug effects*
chemical_list: D006854:Hydrocortisone