Bergquist Sharon H, Wang Danyang, Pearce Brad, Smith Alicia K, Hankus Allison, Roberts David L, Moore Miranda A
Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, Emory University, 1365 Clifton Rd, Atlanta, GA, 30322, United States, 1 4047786417.
Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, United States.
JMIR Form Res. 2025 Jun 11;9:e63811. doi: 10.2196/63811.
Hair cortisol is an emerging biomarker of chronic stress. However, the psychological and physiological aspects of chronic stress that are reflected in hair cortisol concentration (HCC) have not been fully determined. Since physiological responses to stress do not always align with how stress is perceived, we conducted this study to evaluate whether HCC correlates with neuroendocrine stress indicators or stress perceptions.
This study aimed to evaluate whether subjective (Perceived Stress Scale and Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale) and objective (plasma cortisol/dehydroepiandrosterone-sulfate [DHEA-S] and cortisol/high-sensitivity C-reactive protein) determinants of stress and resilience correlate with HCC.
In this cross-sectional pilot validity study, scatter plots and Spearman correlation coefficients were used to measure the direction and magnitude of the relationship between stress and resilience measures among 51 predominantly male participants. In a subset (n=24), we performed a step-wise regression modeling approach to isolate the association of perceived and somatic stress on hair cortisol.
Bivariate correlations showed a weak inverse association of HCC with Perceived Stress Scale (Spearman correlation ρ=-0.14, P=.52) and a stronger positive association with somatic neuroendocrine stress indices cortisol/DHEA-S (ρ=0.24, P=.25) and cortisol/high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (ρ=0.21, P=.35). In linear regression models, HCC showed the strongest association with cortisol/DHEA-S (r2=0.10, P=.13, 1.01β 1.01, 95% CI 0.99-1.01). This relationship remained when age, gender, hair washing frequency, hair dye or bleach use, diabetes mellitus, obesity, cardiovascular disease, anxiety, medication use, and endocrine disorders were considered.
Our results do not indicate a statistically significant association (at the P<.05 threshold) between HCC and stress perception or somatic measures of neuroendocrine response.
头发皮质醇是一种新兴的慢性应激生物标志物。然而，头发皮质醇浓度（HCC）所反映的慢性应激的心理和生理方面尚未完全明确。由于对压力的生理反应并不总是与对压力的感知一致，我们进行了这项研究，以评估HCC是否与神经内分泌应激指标或压力感知相关。
本研究旨在评估压力和恢复力的主观（感知压力量表和康纳-戴维森恢复力量表）和客观（血浆皮质醇/硫酸脱氢表雄酮 [DHEA-S] 以及皮质醇/高敏C反应蛋白）决定因素是否与HCC相关。
在这项横断面试点有效性研究中，散点图和斯皮尔曼相关系数用于测量51名主要为男性的参与者中压力和恢复力测量之间关系的方向和强度。在一个亚组（n = 24）中，我们采用逐步回归建模方法来分离感知应激和躯体应激与头发皮质醇的关联。
双变量相关性显示，HCC与感知压力量表呈弱负相关（斯皮尔曼相关系数ρ = -0.14，P = 0.52），与躯体神经内分泌应激指标皮质醇/DHEA-S（ρ = 0.24，P = 0.25）和皮质醇/高敏C反应蛋白（ρ = 0.21，P = 0.35）呈较强正相关。在线性回归模型中，HCC与皮质醇/DHEA-S的关联最强（r2 = 0.10，P = 0.13，β = 1.01，95%CI 0.99 - 1.01）。在考虑年龄、性别、洗头频率、使用染发剂或漂白剂、糖尿病、肥胖、心血管疾病、焦虑、用药情况和内分泌疾病时，这种关系依然存在。
我们的结果并未表明HCC与压力感知或神经内分泌反应的躯体测量之间存在统计学上的显著关联（在P < 0.05阈值下）。
