Department of Psychiatry and Institute of Behavioral Science in Medicine, Yonsei University College of Medicine, 50-1 Yonsei-ro, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, 03722, Republic of Korea.
Department of Hospital Medicine, Yongin Severance Hospital, Yonsei University College of Medicine, 363 Dongbaekjukjeon-daero, Giheung-gu, Yongin, Gyeonggi-do, 16995, Republic of Korea.
Biol Sex Differ. 2021 Oct 19;12(1):56. doi: 10.1186/s13293-021-00399-8.
Hair cortisol concentration (HCC) has received attention as a useful marker of stress, but evidence on associations between psychological factors and cortisol concentration is inconsistent. The purpose of this study was to investigate the sex differences in the relationship between cortisol concentration and psychological factors in healthy young adults.
A total of 205 (103 females, 102 males) healthy young adults participated. HCC and various stress-related psychological measures were compared between sexes. Multiple linear regression analyses were performed to assess associations between HCC and stress-related psychological measures for all participants and for each sex.
The difference in HCC according to sex was not significant. The reported number of stressful life events in the past year, stress perception, depressive and anxiety-related symptoms, and emotion dysregulation were not different between sexes, either. The association between HCC and emotion dysregulation was significant in females but not males.
We observed a sex-specific association between HCC and psychological factors. Our findings may imply that HCC could be a useful biomarker of stress and stress-related emotion dysregulation in healthy young women.
头发皮质醇浓度 (HCC) 作为应激的有用标志物受到关注，但有关皮质醇浓度与心理因素之间关系的证据并不一致。本研究旨在探讨健康年轻成年人中皮质醇浓度与心理因素之间关系的性别差异。
共纳入 205 名（女性 103 名，男性 102 名）健康年轻成年人。比较了男女之间的 HCC 和各种与应激相关的心理测量指标。对所有参与者和每个性别进行了多线性回归分析，以评估 HCC 与应激相关的心理测量指标之间的关联。
男女之间 HCC 的差异不显著。过去一年报告的应激性生活事件数量、应激感知、抑郁和焦虑相关症状以及情绪调节也没有性别差异。HCC 与女性的情绪失调之间存在关联，但在男性中没有。
我们观察到 HCC 与心理因素之间存在性别特异性关联。我们的发现可能意味着 HCC 可能是健康年轻女性应激和应激相关情绪失调的有用生物标志物。
