Pavlickova H, Russell A E, Lightman S, McCabe R
Mental Health Research Group, University of Exeter Medical School, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK.
Henry Wellcome Laboratories for Integrative Neuroscience and Endocrinology, Dorothy Hodgkin Building, University of Bristol, Bristol, BS1 3NY, UK.
BMC Res Notes. 2021 Jan 21;14(1):30. doi: 10.1186/s13104-021-05446-6.
Receiving a diagnosis of dementia is life-changing for the individual and their companion. The aim of the study was to explore the feasibility of collecting salivary cortisol from patients who are informed if they have dementia and their companions. Patients and companions collected nine saliva samples in three batches: 1-2 weeks before, immediately before, and immediately after the diagnostic meeting. Each batch consisted of three samples taken in the evening, after awaking and 30 mins post-waking.
22.7% (N = 10) of 44 invited patients and nine companions agreed, with 18.2% patients (N = 8) and 15.9% companions (N = 7) providing samples. Participants found that saliva collection was demanding and disrupted routines. On a purely descriptive level, some indications of an increased cortisol stress response in patients diagnosed with dementia were found in this very small sample. Researchers should expect low recruitment rates in this elderly population. Simpler collection procedures, e.g. pre-labelled packages with date/time, possible omission of morning samples and objective rather than self-report assessment of waking and saliva collection times-using actigraphy wrist-watches bleeps to prompt people at the timepoints and electronic track caps-might improve adherence and improve the accuracy of timepoints when swabs were actually collected.
对个人及其陪伴者而言，被诊断为痴呆症会改变生活。本研究的目的是探讨从已被告知患有痴呆症的患者及其陪伴者中收集唾液皮质醇的可行性。患者和陪伴者分三批采集了九份唾液样本：诊断会议前1 - 2周、即将诊断前以及诊断会议结束后立即采集。每批包含在晚上、醒来后以及醒来30分钟后采集的三份样本。
44名受邀患者中有22.7%（N = 10）和9名陪伴者同意参与，其中18.2%的患者（N = 8）和15.9%的陪伴者（N = 7）提供了样本。参与者发现唾液采集要求较高且打乱了日常安排。在这个非常小的样本中，从纯描述性层面来看，发现一些被诊断为痴呆症的患者存在皮质醇应激反应增加的迹象。研究人员应该预计在这个老年人群体中的招募率较低。更简单的采集程序，例如带有日期/时间预标记的包装、可能省略早晨的样本以及采用客观而非自我报告的方式评估醒来和唾液采集时间——使用活动记录仪手表的提示音在时间点提醒人们以及使用电子追踪帽——可能会提高依从性并提高实际采集拭子时时间点的准确性。
