Centre for Research in Human Development, Concordia University, Montréal (Québec), Canada.
J Affect Disord. 2011 Jul;132(1-2):265-9. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2011.01.007. Epub 2011 Feb 16.
Several studies have reported that the offspring of parents with affective disorders secrete high levels of daytime cortisol. A few studies have shown that high cortisol levels preceded the onset of affective symptoms. Only one study to date has found that an elevation in cortisol preceded the onset of an affective disorder, but this was observed only in those youth carrying the short allele of the serotonin transporter gene promoter polymorphism (Goodyer et al., 2009).
We followed 28 offspring of parents with bipolar disorder and 31 offspring of parents with no affective disorder from an average age of 17.5years to an average age of 20.0years to determine if cortisol levels at baseline predicted the subsequent development of an affective disorder. At baseline and at follow-up participants completed a diagnostic assessment, and at baseline they provided saliva samples. Daytime cortisol levels were computed as the mean of eight to 24 samples measured across two to six days.
Among the 59 participants, cortisol levels at the mean age of 17.5years predicted the development of an affective disorder during the subsequent 2.5year (odds ratio: 2.1, 95% confidence interval=1.0-4.1, p<0.05) after controlling for offspring mental disorders at the first assessment and having a parent with bipolar disorder.
The findings should be interpreted with caution, as the sample size was small.
Elevated daytime cortisol levels in late adolescence may be a biomarker of vulnerability for affective disorders.
几项研究报告称，父母患有情感障碍的子女白天分泌的皮质醇水平较高。一些研究表明，皮质醇水平升高先于情感症状的出现。迄今为止，只有一项研究发现皮质醇升高先于情感障碍的发作，但这仅在携带 5-羟色胺转运体基因启动子多态性短等位基因的青少年中观察到（Goodyer 等人，2009 年）。
我们随访了 28 名父母患有双相情感障碍的子女和 31 名父母无情感障碍的子女，从平均年龄 17.5 岁到平均年龄 20.0 岁，以确定基线时的皮质醇水平是否预测随后发生情感障碍。在基线和随访时，参与者完成了诊断评估，并且在基线时提供了唾液样本。日间皮质醇水平计算为在两天至六天内测量的 8 到 24 个样本的平均值。
在 59 名参与者中，平均年龄为 17.5 岁时的皮质醇水平预测了随后 2.5 年期间情感障碍的发展（优势比：2.1，95%置信区间=1.0-4.1，p<0.05），在控制了首次评估时的子女精神障碍和父母患有双相情感障碍的情况下。
应谨慎解释研究结果，因为样本量较小。
青春期后期白天皮质醇水平升高可能是情感障碍易感性的生物标志物。
