Doering S, Wedekind D, Pilz J, Bandelow B, Adler L, Huether G
Universitätsklinik für Medizinische Psychologie und Psychotherapie, Sonnenburgstrasse 9, A-6020 Innsbruck, Austria.
Z Psychosom Med Psychother. 2001;47(1):42-57. doi: 10.13109/zptm.2001.47.1.42.
Cortisol is one of the major parameters investigated in psychoneuroendocrinological research, but the methods employed for sample collecting are often unsatisfactory. A suitable method of sample collection should allow for the integrative assessment of long-term changes of the HPA-system, should be non-invasive, and should not exceed the subject's compliance. The assessment of cortisol in night-urine fulfils these demands; although this method has been occasionally employed, it has not yet been described systematically. For the first time a detailed description is given here that allows for a standardized replication. In ten previous studies and three investigations of our own this method has been successfully applied to detect changes in the cortisol excretion of patients with endocrinological and psychiatric disorders as well as in subjects under conditions of psychosocial stress. The determination of cortisol in night-urine represents an ideal method for the assessment of changes in the basal HPA-activity in numerous areas of psychoneuroendocrinological research, e.g. field and screening studies in natural environment, clinical studies in psychiatry and especially follow-up studies in psychotherapy research.
皮质醇是心理神经内分泌学研究中主要的研究参数之一，但用于样本采集的方法往往不尽人意。合适的样本采集方法应能对下丘脑-垂体-肾上腺（HPA）系统的长期变化进行综合评估，应是非侵入性的，且不应超出受试者的依从性。夜间尿液中皮质醇的评估满足了这些要求；尽管该方法偶尔被采用，但尚未得到系统描述。本文首次给出了详细描述，以便进行标准化重复。在之前的十项研究以及我们自己的三项调查中，该方法已成功应用于检测内分泌和精神疾病患者以及处于心理社会压力条件下的受试者的皮质醇排泄变化。夜间尿液中皮质醇的测定是心理神经内分泌学众多研究领域评估基础HPA活性变化的理想方法，例如自然环境中的现场和筛查研究、精神病学临床研究，尤其是心理治疗研究中的随访研究。
