Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, United States.
Alcohol Alcohol. 2024 Jul 21;59(5). doi: 10.1093/alcalc/agae047.
Peripheral cortisol represents one biological measure of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, a significant component of the stress system, which is altered by chronic alcohol consumption. However, whether heavy alcohol use affects the HPA axis differentially between the sexes and whether basal cortisol levels are a biomarker of prospective alcohol intake is unknown.
We recruited light moderate (LM) and binge-heavy (BH) drinkers of alcohol (n = 118). Repeated fasting morning cortisol levels were studied over a 2-hour period to assess basal levels while participants underwent a neuroimaging scan.
Significantly higher average cortisol levels in BH compared to LM groups across four timepoints were observed (P < .018). Overall sex differences were observed with women showing higher initial cortisol levels at the first timepoint with a blunted decrease over the morning relative to men (P < .003). Average morning cortisol differentially predicted prospective future 30-day daily reports of alcohol consumption by sex and group, such that LM males had a positive significant relationship and BH males had a negative non-significant relationship between cortisol and drinking.
Findings indicate that morning plasma cortisol is upregulated in the BH vs. LM group. Although females had higher initial morning cortisol levels, BH males showed a dysregulated negative relationship between stress and binge drinking in contrast to the LM group. Future work should further investigate the role of cortisol and other stress hormones as biomarkers of problematic drinking behaviors in men and women.
外周皮质醇是下丘脑-垂体-肾上腺 (HPA) 轴的一种生物学测量指标，HPA 轴是应激系统的重要组成部分，长期饮酒会改变 HPA 轴。然而，大量饮酒是否会对男女的 HPA 轴产生不同影响，以及基础皮质醇水平是否是未来饮酒量的生物标志物尚不清楚。
我们招募了轻中度（LM）和 binge-heavy（BH）饮酒者（n=118）。通过神经影像学扫描，在 2 小时内研究了多次空腹晨皮质醇水平，以评估基础水平。
与 LM 组相比，BH 组在四个时间点的平均皮质醇水平明显更高（P<.018）。观察到总体性别差异，女性在第一个时间点的初始皮质醇水平较高，与男性相比，早晨的皮质醇水平下降幅度较小（P<.003）。平均晨皮质醇水平通过性别和组预测未来 30 天的每日饮酒报告，因此 LM 男性与皮质醇和饮酒之间存在正相关关系，而 BH 男性则存在负相关关系。
研究结果表明，BH 组的晨血浆皮质醇水平上调。尽管女性的初始晨皮质醇水平较高，但 BH 男性与 LM 组相比，表现出应激和 binge 饮酒之间失调的负相关关系。未来的研究应进一步探讨皮质醇和其他应激激素作为男性和女性问题饮酒行为的生物标志物的作用。
