Kirschbaum C, Pirke K M, Hellhammer D H
Center for Psychobiology and Psychosomatic Research, University of Trier, Germany.
Psychoneuroendocrinology. 1995;20(5):509-14. doi: 10.1016/0306-4530(94)00078-o.
In two studies, saliva cortisol responses to the psychological stress of public speaking and mental arithmetic were investigated in women using oral contraceptives (OC; n = 28) and in control women (n = 29). While no significant differences in baseline levels were observed, altered adrenocortical responses were found in OC users. These women showed significantly attenuated cortisol responses to the experimental stressor in both studies, with peak cortisol levels only slightly elevated above baseline levels. These differences could not be attributed to affective responses as indicated in ratings on visual analogue scales assessing subjective stress responses (Study 2). A comparison between control women and men (n = 19) again revealed the previously reported result of larger cortisol responses to psychological stress in males. We conclude that the use of OC may interfere with the adrenocortical response to psychological stress and should therefore be viewed as an important intervening variable. While it appears that differences at a supra-adrenal site is responsible for the observed cortisol hyporesponsiveness in OC users, the physiological mechanisms remain to be elucidated.
在两项研究中，对使用口服避孕药（OC；n = 28）的女性和对照女性（n = 29）进行了调查，以研究她们唾液中皮质醇对公开演讲和心算等心理应激的反应。虽然在基线水平上未观察到显著差异，但在使用口服避孕药的女性中发现了肾上腺皮质反应的改变。在两项研究中，这些女性对实验应激源的皮质醇反应均显著减弱，皮质醇峰值水平仅略高于基线水平。这些差异不能归因于情感反应，如在评估主观应激反应的视觉模拟量表评分中所示（研究2）。对照女性与男性（n = 19）之间的比较再次揭示了先前报道的结果，即男性对心理应激的皮质醇反应更大。我们得出结论，使用口服避孕药可能会干扰肾上腺皮质对心理应激的反应，因此应将其视为一个重要的干预变量。虽然似乎肾上腺以上部位的差异是导致口服避孕药使用者观察到的皮质醇反应低下的原因，但生理机制仍有待阐明。
