The University of Southampton
University of Southampton Institutional Repository

Glucocorticoid exposure in preterm babies predicts saliva cortisol response to immunization at 4 months

Glucocorticoid exposure in preterm babies predicts saliva cortisol response to immunization at 4 months
Glucocorticoid exposure in preterm babies predicts saliva cortisol response to immunization at 4 months
Preterm babies are exposed to multiple stressors and this may have long-term effects. In particular, high levels of endogenous cortisol might have a programming effect on the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis as may administered glucocorticoids. In this study, we aimed to test the hypothesis that the level of endogenous and exogenous glucocorticoid exposure during the neonatal period predicts the saliva cortisol response to immunization at 4 mo of age. We followed 45 babies born below 32 wk gestation. We showed that their concentration of plasma cortisol during the first 4 wk was 358, 314, 231, and 195 nmol/L cortisol, respectively (geometric mean). This is four to seven times higher than fetal levels at the same gestational age range. We used routine immunization at 4 mo and 12 mo as a stressor and measured the change in saliva cortisol as the stress response. Mean circulating cortisol in the first 4 wk predicted the cortisol response at 4 but not at 12 mo. Path analysis showed that birthweight for gestational age, therapeutic antenatal steroids, and therapeutic postnatal steroids also contributed to the magnitude of the saliva cortisol response at 4 mo. This provides evidence that the magnitude of glucocorticoid exposure, both endogenous and exogenous, may have an effect on later stress responses.
Abbreviations: CFI, comparative fit index CRH, corticotrophin releasing factor HPA, hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal RMSEA, root mean square error of approximation SDS, standard deviation score
0031-3998
1233-1237
Glover, Vivette
a6808f4f-697f-4570-b6a7-a776ad55eefe
Miles, Rachel
94d355e9-2e63-4c0f-bc7c-e1ee51537747
Matta, Simon
0147b1be-061b-4b2d-8de6-ed9deaa489eb
Modi, Neena
78ed7664-587f-4cc5-83c1-7fbb8f7baf31
Stevenson, James
0c85d29b-d294-43cb-ab8d-75e4737478e1
Glover, Vivette
a6808f4f-697f-4570-b6a7-a776ad55eefe
Miles, Rachel
94d355e9-2e63-4c0f-bc7c-e1ee51537747
Matta, Simon
0147b1be-061b-4b2d-8de6-ed9deaa489eb
Modi, Neena
78ed7664-587f-4cc5-83c1-7fbb8f7baf31
Stevenson, James
0c85d29b-d294-43cb-ab8d-75e4737478e1

Glover, Vivette, Miles, Rachel, Matta, Simon, Modi, Neena and Stevenson, James (2005) Glucocorticoid exposure in preterm babies predicts saliva cortisol response to immunization at 4 months. Pediatric Research, 58 (6), 1233-1237. (doi:10.1203/01.pdr.0000185132.38209.73).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Preterm babies are exposed to multiple stressors and this may have long-term effects. In particular, high levels of endogenous cortisol might have a programming effect on the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis as may administered glucocorticoids. In this study, we aimed to test the hypothesis that the level of endogenous and exogenous glucocorticoid exposure during the neonatal period predicts the saliva cortisol response to immunization at 4 mo of age. We followed 45 babies born below 32 wk gestation. We showed that their concentration of plasma cortisol during the first 4 wk was 358, 314, 231, and 195 nmol/L cortisol, respectively (geometric mean). This is four to seven times higher than fetal levels at the same gestational age range. We used routine immunization at 4 mo and 12 mo as a stressor and measured the change in saliva cortisol as the stress response. Mean circulating cortisol in the first 4 wk predicted the cortisol response at 4 but not at 12 mo. Path analysis showed that birthweight for gestational age, therapeutic antenatal steroids, and therapeutic postnatal steroids also contributed to the magnitude of the saliva cortisol response at 4 mo. This provides evidence that the magnitude of glucocorticoid exposure, both endogenous and exogenous, may have an effect on later stress responses.
Abbreviations: CFI, comparative fit index CRH, corticotrophin releasing factor HPA, hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal RMSEA, root mean square error of approximation SDS, standard deviation score

This record has no associated files available for download.

More information

Published date: 2005

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 40365
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/40365
ISSN: 0031-3998
PURE UUID: 8baf9a0a-671e-4bfd-87cd-d9993a3a89c4

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 03 Jul 2006
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 08:18

Export record

Altmetrics

Contributors

Author: Vivette Glover
Author: Rachel Miles
Author: Simon Matta
Author: Neena Modi
Author: James Stevenson

Download statistics

Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.

View more statistics

Atom RSS 1.0 RSS 2.0

Contact ePrints Soton: eprints@soton.ac.uk

ePrints Soton supports OAI 2.0 with a base URL of http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/cgi/oai2

This repository has been built using EPrints software, developed at the University of Southampton, but available to everyone to use.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we will assume that you are happy to receive cookies on the University of Southampton website.

×