School of Education and Social Policy and Institute for Policy Research, Northwestern University, United States.
Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2009 Nov;34(10):1423-36. doi: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2009.06.011. Epub 2009 Jul 31.
Salivary cortisol measures are increasingly being incorporated into large-scale, population-based, or epidemiological research, in which participants are selected to be representative of particular communities or populations of interest, and sample sizes are in the order of hundreds to tens of thousands of participants. These approaches to studying salivary cortisol provide important advantages but pose a set of challenges. The representative nature of sampling, and large samples sizes associated with population-based research offer high generalizability and power, and the ability to examine cortisol functioning in relation to: (a) a wide range of social environments; (b) a diverse array individuals and groups; and (c) a broad set of pre-disease and disease outcomes. The greater importance of high response rates (to maintain generalizability) and higher costs associated with this type of large-scale research, however, requires special adaptations of existing ambulatory cortisol protocols. These include: using the most efficient sample collection protocol possible that still adequately address the specific cortisol-related questions at hand, and ensuring the highest possible response and compliance rates among those individuals invited to participate. Examples of choices made, response rates obtained, and examples of results obtained from existing epidemiological cortisol studies are offered, as are suggestions for the modeling and interpretation of salivary cortisol data obtained in large-scale epidemiological research.
唾液皮质醇测量越来越多地被纳入大规模、基于人群或流行病学研究中，这些研究选择具有代表性的特定社区或感兴趣的人群作为参与者，样本量为数以百计到数万不等。这些研究唾液皮质醇的方法提供了重要的优势，但也带来了一系列挑战。抽样的代表性以及基于人群的研究相关的大样本量提供了高度的可推广性和效能，并能够检查皮质醇功能与：(a) 广泛的社会环境；(b) 不同的个体和群体；以及 (c) 广泛的疾病前和疾病结果之间的关系。然而，为了保持可推广性，更高的应答率的重要性以及与这种大规模研究相关的更高成本，要求对现有的动态皮质醇方案进行特殊调整。这些调整包括：使用尽可能有效的样本采集方案，仍然充分解决手头特定的皮质醇相关问题，并确保邀请参与的个人中尽可能高的应答和依从率。提供了已有的流行病学皮质醇研究中所做的选择、获得的应答率和结果示例，以及对大规模流行病学研究中获得的唾液皮质醇数据进行建模和解释的建议。
