King J A, Rosal M C, Ma Y, Reed G, Kelly T A, Stanek E J, Ockene I S
Behavioral Neuroscience Program of the Department of Psychiatry, University of Massachusetts Medical School, USA.
Behav Med. 2000 Summer;26(2):67-73. doi: 10.1080/08964280009595753.
Assessments of cortisol levels in saliva have been widely used by both researchers and clinicians as an index of adrenal functioning. Quarterly measurements of morning and evening cortisol levels were determined in a longitudinal study of 147 participants (72 women and 75 men) followed for 1 year each. The analysis of salivary cortisol revealed no significant gender or age differences in the sample. There was a sequence effect in quarterly cortisol values with a progressive decrease in serial measurements, especially notable in the morning values; as well as a seasonal variation in cortisol levels with significantly higher levels found in winter and fall, compared with spring and summer. The findings in this study suggest that repeated saliva sampling and seasonal variation in cortisol levels may independently affect adrenal response and, therefore, need to be accounted for in longitudinal studies.
唾液中皮质醇水平的评估已被研究人员和临床医生广泛用作肾上腺功能的指标。在一项对147名参与者（72名女性和75名男性）进行的为期1年的纵向研究中，确定了每季度早晚皮质醇水平的测量值。唾液皮质醇分析显示，样本中不存在显著的性别或年龄差异。季度皮质醇值存在序列效应，连续测量值逐渐下降，在早晨的值中尤为明显；皮质醇水平还存在季节性变化，与春季和夏季相比，冬季和秋季的水平显著更高。本研究的结果表明，重复唾液采样和皮质醇水平的季节性变化可能会独立影响肾上腺反应，因此，在纵向研究中需要加以考虑。
