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Diurnal cortisol and mental well-being in middle and older age: evidence from four cohort studies

Diurnal cortisol and mental well-being in middle and older age: evidence from four cohort studies
Diurnal cortisol and mental well-being in middle and older age: evidence from four cohort studies
Objectives: We conducted an individual participant meta-analysis to test the hypothesis that cortisol patterns indicative of dysregulated hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis functioning would be prospectively associated with poorer well-being at follow-up.

Setting: Four large UK-based cohort studies.

Participants: Those providing valid salivary or serum cortisol samples (n=7515 for morning cortisol; n=1612 for cortisol awakening response) at baseline (age 44–82) and well-being data on the Warwick Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale at follow-up (0–8 years) were included.

Results: Well-being was not associated with morning cortisol, diurnal slope or awakening response though a borderline association with evening cortisol was found. Adjusting for sex and follow-up time, each 1 SD increase in evening cortisol was associated with a −0.47 (95% CI −1.00 to 0.05) point lower well-being. This was attenuated by adjustment for body mass index, smoking and socioeconomic position. Between-study heterogeneity was low.

Conclusions: This study does not support the hypothesis that diurnal cortisol is prospectively associated with well-being up to 8 years later. However, replication in prospective studies with cortisol samples over multiple days is required.
2044-6055
Stafford, Mai
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Ben-Shlomo, Yoav
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Cooper, Cyrus
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Gale, Catharine
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Gardner, Michael P.
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Geoffroy, Marie-Claude
8b53b45a-1ef7-467f-bcd8-8e8314148f31
Power, Chris
00309de2-e4ca-4b1a-a073-152c31be3f46
Kuh, Diana
6c5d95a4-433d-4895-bd95-86a7d5fe76a5
Cooper, Rachel
6cd7b578-a1fa-4511-bc7d-9addc4baf372
Stafford, Mai
c04bc94d-2eb4-47ef-a228-f2f0442d74cf
Ben-Shlomo, Yoav
920afa6a-6f07-48ff-a238-24fd5cdd1638
Cooper, Cyrus
e05f5612-b493-4273-9b71-9e0ce32bdad6
Gale, Catharine
5bb2abb3-7b53-42d6-8aa7-817e193140c8
Gardner, Michael P.
0a87a849-c031-401b-8d23-9d2763554d6d
Geoffroy, Marie-Claude
8b53b45a-1ef7-467f-bcd8-8e8314148f31
Power, Chris
00309de2-e4ca-4b1a-a073-152c31be3f46
Kuh, Diana
6c5d95a4-433d-4895-bd95-86a7d5fe76a5
Cooper, Rachel
6cd7b578-a1fa-4511-bc7d-9addc4baf372

Stafford, Mai, Ben-Shlomo, Yoav, Cooper, Cyrus, Gale, Catharine, Gardner, Michael P., Geoffroy, Marie-Claude, Power, Chris, Kuh, Diana and Cooper, Rachel (2017) Diurnal cortisol and mental well-being in middle and older age: evidence from four cohort studies. BMJ Open, 7, [e016085]. (doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2017-016085).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Objectives: We conducted an individual participant meta-analysis to test the hypothesis that cortisol patterns indicative of dysregulated hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis functioning would be prospectively associated with poorer well-being at follow-up.

Setting: Four large UK-based cohort studies.

Participants: Those providing valid salivary or serum cortisol samples (n=7515 for morning cortisol; n=1612 for cortisol awakening response) at baseline (age 44–82) and well-being data on the Warwick Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale at follow-up (0–8 years) were included.

Results: Well-being was not associated with morning cortisol, diurnal slope or awakening response though a borderline association with evening cortisol was found. Adjusting for sex and follow-up time, each 1 SD increase in evening cortisol was associated with a −0.47 (95% CI −1.00 to 0.05) point lower well-being. This was attenuated by adjustment for body mass index, smoking and socioeconomic position. Between-study heterogeneity was low.

Conclusions: This study does not support the hypothesis that diurnal cortisol is prospectively associated with well-being up to 8 years later. However, replication in prospective studies with cortisol samples over multiple days is required.

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Accepted/In Press date: 13 July 2017
e-pub ahead of print date: 12 October 2017
Published date: October 2017

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 415657
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/415657
ISSN: 2044-6055
PURE UUID: f93a41de-6700-47ad-881b-af7c7ffe8efd
ORCID for Cyrus Cooper: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-3510-0709
ORCID for Catharine Gale: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-3361-8638

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Date deposited: 17 Nov 2017 17:30
Last modified: 18 Mar 2024 02:46

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Contributors

Author: Mai Stafford
Author: Yoav Ben-Shlomo
Author: Cyrus Cooper ORCID iD
Author: Catharine Gale ORCID iD
Author: Michael P. Gardner
Author: Marie-Claude Geoffroy
Author: Chris Power
Author: Diana Kuh
Author: Rachel Cooper

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