Payne Laura A, Hibel Leah C, Granger Douglas A, Tsao Jennie C I, Zeltzer Lonnie K
David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA.
J Child Adolesc Behav. 2014;2. doi: 10.4172/jcalb.1000129.
Salivary alpha amylase (sAA) has been shown to be a sensitive and reliable marker of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) response to stress. A link between sAA, cortisol, and social/evaluative stress has been established in youth, but little is known about these relationships in response to other stressors in children, and how social anxiety might moderate these relationships. The current study explored the associations among sAA and salivary cortisol responses to laboratory pain tasks and self-reported social anxiety symptoms in a sample of healthy children.
Two hundred thirty-one children (114 girls; 49.4%) with a mean age 12.68 years (SD=3.0; range 7-18) participated in the study. Participants completed self-report questionnaires prior to undergoing a series of laboratory pain tasks involving cold, pressure, and heat pain. Saliva samples were collected upon arrival to the laboratory (pre-task), following the completion of the pain tasks (post-task1), and 20 minutes after the completion of the pain tasks (post-task2).
Demographic factors (age, sex, pubertal stage) did not predict either sAA or cortisol levels. However, children reporting higher levels of social anxiety demonstrated significantly higher sAA but not cortisol levels across three salivary collection times, compared to children reporting lower levels of social anxiety. Further, it does not appear that reduced state levels of anxiety before or during the tasks buffer this relationship.
These data highlight the possibility of identifying biomarkers of stress that are consistent across time and developmental stage. sAA appears to be a marker of stress response in children with self-reported social anxiety. There may also be a potentially unique relationship of sAA to stress in this population. In addition, sAA may reflect stable individual differences in levels of ANS arousal and may be a useful biomarker for identifying children at risk for stress.
唾液α淀粉酶（sAA）已被证明是自主神经系统（ANS）对应激反应的敏感且可靠的标志物。在青少年中已确立sAA、皮质醇与社交/评估性应激之间的联系，但对于儿童对其他应激源的反应中这些关系以及社交焦虑如何调节这些关系知之甚少。本研究在一组健康儿童样本中探讨了sAA和唾液皮质醇对实验室疼痛任务的反应与自我报告的社交焦虑症状之间的关联。
231名儿童（114名女孩；49.4%）参与了该研究，平均年龄12.68岁（标准差=3.0；范围7 - 18岁）。参与者在接受一系列涉及冷、压力和热痛的实验室疼痛任务之前完成自我报告问卷。到达实验室时（任务前）、疼痛任务完成后（任务后1）以及疼痛任务完成20分钟后（任务后2）收集唾液样本。
人口统计学因素（年龄、性别、青春期阶段）均不能预测sAA或皮质醇水平。然而，与社交焦虑水平较低的儿童相比，报告社交焦虑水平较高的儿童在三个唾液采集时间点的sAA水平显著更高，但皮质醇水平无显著差异。此外，任务前或任务期间焦虑状态水平的降低似乎并未缓冲这种关系。
这些数据凸显了识别在时间和发育阶段上一致的应激生物标志物的可能性。sAA似乎是自我报告有社交焦虑的儿童应激反应的标志物。在这一人群中，sAA与应激之间可能还存在潜在的独特关系。此外，sAA可能反映了自主神经系统唤醒水平的稳定个体差异，并且可能是识别有应激风险儿童的有用生物标志物。
