Department of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America.
Department of Population Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2020 Feb 4;15(2):e0228769. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0228769. eCollection 2020.
Hair cortisol concentration (HCC) is an increasingly used measure of systemic cortisol concentration. However, determinants of HCC in children and adolescents are unclear because few prospective studies have been conducted to date.
We followed 725 children in Project Viva, a pre-birth cohort study of mothers and children, who provided hair samples at mid-childhood (median age: 7.7 years) or early adolescence (median age: 12.9 years). We examined associations of various factors measured from pregnancy to mid-childhood with HCC in mid-childhood and early adolescence, as well as change in HCC between these time points (ΔHCC).
There were 426 children with HCC measurements in both mid-childhood and early adolescence, 173 children with measures only in mid-childhood, and 126 with measures only in early adolescence. HCC was lower in mid-childhood (median 1.0pg/mg [interquartile range, IQR: 0.5, 2.4]) than early adolescence (2.2pg/mg [1.1, 4.4]). In multivariable-adjusted regression models, female sex (β = -0.41, 95% CI: -0.67, -0.15) and birth weight-for-gestational age z-score (β = -0.19, 95% CI: -0.33, -0.04) were associated with lower mid-childhood HCC, while prenatal smoking was associated with higher mid-childhood HCC (β = 0.53, 95% CI: 0.04, 1.01). In early adolescence, child age (β = 0.34 per year, 95% CI: 0.21, 0.46) female sex (β = 0.33, 95% CI: 0.10, 0.57), and maternal pre-pregnancy body mass index (β = 0.15 per 5-kg/m2, 95% CI: 0.01, 0.29) were positively associated with HCC. Child anthropometric measures and biomarker concentrations were not associated with HCC.
Maternal pre-pregnancy BMI, maternal prenatal smoking, and low birth weight were associated with higher mid-childhood and adolescent HCC. However, few postnatal characteristics were associated with HCC.
头发皮质醇浓度（HCC）是一种越来越常用的全身皮质醇浓度测量方法。然而，由于迄今为止进行的前瞻性研究较少，儿童和青少年 HCC 的决定因素尚不清楚。
我们对参加 Viva 项目的 725 名儿童进行了随访，该项目是一项对母亲和儿童进行的产前队列研究，他们在儿童中期（中位年龄：7.7 岁）或青少年早期（中位年龄：12.9 岁）提供了头发样本。我们研究了从妊娠到儿童中期测量的各种因素与儿童中期和青少年早期 HCC 以及这些时间点之间 HCC 变化（ΔHCC）的关系。
有 426 名儿童在儿童中期和青少年早期都有 HCC 测量值，173 名儿童只有儿童中期的测量值，126 名儿童只有青少年早期的测量值。儿童中期 HCC 水平较低（中位数 1.0pg/mg[四分位距，IQR：0.5，2.4]），青少年早期 HCC 水平较高（2.2pg/mg[1.1，4.4]）。在多变量调整回归模型中，女性性别（β=-0.41，95%CI：-0.67，-0.15）和出生体重与胎龄 Z 评分（β=-0.19，95%CI：-0.33，-0.04）与较低的儿童中期 HCC 相关，而产前吸烟与较高的儿童中期 HCC 相关（β=0.53，95%CI：0.04，1.01）。在青少年早期，儿童年龄（每年增加 0.34，95%CI：0.21，0.46）、女性性别（β=0.33，95%CI：0.10，0.57）和母亲孕前体重指数（β=每 5-kg/m2 增加 0.15，95%CI：0.01，0.29）与 HCC 呈正相关。儿童人体测量指标和生物标志物浓度与 HCC 无关。
母亲孕前 BMI、母亲产前吸烟和低出生体重与儿童中期和青少年 HCC 较高有关。然而，很少有产后特征与 HCC 相关。
