Department of Psychiatry and Weill Institute for Neurosciences and Dyslexia Center, University of California San Francisco, 401 Parnassus Ave., San Francisco, CA, 94143, USA; Multi-University Precision Learning Center, 401 Parnassus Ave., San Francisco, CA, 94143, USA; Department of Psychology, University of Denver, 2155 S. Race Street, Denver, CO, 80210, USA.
Department of Psychiatry and Weill Institute for Neurosciences and Dyslexia Center, University of California San Francisco, 401 Parnassus Ave., San Francisco, CA, 94143, USA.
Biol Psychol. 2020 Sep;155:107946. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2020.107946. Epub 2020 Aug 14.
Chronic stress during childhood negatively impacts cognition and physical and mental health. Exposure to stressors over time can cause hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis dysregulation, leading to abnormal stress hormone levels, which can be reflected in hair cortisol concentration (HCC) and hair dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) concentration. Although the use of HCC and DHEA to measure chronic stress in children is increasing, their effects on cognition (as indexed by executive function) remain unexplored. Accordingly, we aimed to investigate the associations of HCC, DHEA, and their ratio with measures of executive function (cognitive flexibility and working memory) in a sample of kindergarten children (N=100). We found that the expected negative association between HCC and working memory approached significance, and DHEA was significantly and positively related to cognitive flexibility. We discuss possible interpretations of our findings. Our results suggest promising areas for future investigation and encourage further exploration into HCC and DHEA as measures of chronic stress.
儿童时期的慢性压力会对认知能力以及身心健康产生负面影响。随着时间的推移，长期暴露于压力源会导致下丘脑-垂体-肾上腺（HPA）轴失调，从而导致应激激素水平异常，这可以反映在头发皮质醇浓度（HCC）和头发去氢表雄酮（DHEA）浓度上。尽管越来越多地使用 HCC 和 DHEA 来衡量儿童的慢性压力，但它们对认知（以执行功能为指标）的影响仍未得到探索。因此，我们旨在调查幼儿园儿童样本中 HCC、DHEA 及其比值与执行功能（认知灵活性和工作记忆）测量值之间的关联（N=100）。我们发现，HCC 与工作记忆之间呈负相关，且接近显著水平，而 DHEA 与认知灵活性呈显著正相关。我们讨论了对我们研究结果的可能解释。我们的研究结果表明，未来有希望进行进一步的研究，鼓励进一步探索 HCC 和 DHEA 作为衡量慢性压力的指标。
