Unit:
Τομέας Υγείας - Μητέρας - ΠαιδιούLibrary of the School of Health Sciences
Author:
Leventakou Vasiliki
Dissertation committee:
Γεώργιος Χρούσος, Καθηγητής, Ιατρική, ΕΚΠΑ
Clive Richardson, Καθηγητής, Τμήμα Οικονομικής και Περιφερειακής Ανάπτυξης, Πάντειο Πανεπιστήμιο
Στυλιανός Χριστογιώργος, Επίκουρος Καθηγητής, Ιατρική, ΕΚΠΑ
Omar B. Da’ar, Associate Professor of Health Economics, College of Public Health and Health Informatics, King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, King Abdulaziz Medical City, National Guard Health Affairs, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Χριστίνα Κανακά, Καθηγήτρια, Ιατρική, ΕΚΠΑ
Αικατερίνη Παπανικολάου, Αναπληρώτρια Καθηγήτρια, Ιατρική, ΕΚΠΑ
Παναγιώτα Περβανίδου, Επίκουρη Καθηγήτρια, Ιατρική, ΕΚΠΑ
Original Title:
Διαγνωστική εκτίμηση συμπτωμάτων κατάθλιψης και επιθετικότητας στους έφηβους από τα επίπεδα συγκέντρωσης κορτιζόλης. Στατιστική ανάλυση και επεξεργασία δεδομένων του Νομού Κεφαλονιάς
Translated title:
Predictive assessment of depression and aggression symptoms in adolescents from cortisol concentration levels. Statistical analysis and data processing from the prefecture of the Kefalonia island, Greece
Summary:
Objective
Predictive power of the stress hormone indices salivary and hair cortisol concentrations with regards to depressive and aggressive symptomatology in children and adolescents.
Background
Research has shown that cortisol levels are consistently altered in subjects with stress-related depressive and aggressive symptomatology.
Methods
This study sampled 189 students, 79 boys (42.5 %) and 107 girls (57.5 %) all 9-13 years old from the Greek Kefalonia Island elementary and high schools, along with their parents (N=143) and teachers (N=147). Participants completed the appropriate Achenbach behavior questionnaires YSR, CBCL and TRF, while students also provided biological samples (saliva and hair) to examine the relations between behavior, psychological functioning and concurrent chronic cortisol levels. Salivary cortisol was measured by chemiluminescence in six serial circadian samples. Hair glucocorticoids were processed by the LC-MS/MS method, which quantified both cortisol and its inactive metabolite cortisone.
Results
Binary depressive/non-depressive symptoms predicted salivary cortisol levels, while hair cortisol and cortisone levels were not predicted by any of the above symptoms. Gender was a strong confounder of both hair cortisol and cortisone. The cutoff point for salivary cortisol (logAUC) was 1.3 microg/l computed from teachers’ reports for rule breaking behavior. The cutoff point for hair cortisol and cortisone were 3.3 ng/ml and 9.1 ng/ml, respectively, from teachers’ reports for anxiety/depression symptomatology.
Salivary cortisol also predicted anxiety/depression symptoms from the teachers ’reports. This prediction however, was remarkably different with nearly 92% of the times, compared to parents’ reports of only 15%.
Conclusion
Teachers’, but not parents’ reports predicted salivary and hair cortisol cutoff thresholds for student rule breaking behavior and student anxiety/depression symptoms, respectively. Similarly, teachers’, but not parents’, reports predicted anxiety /depression symptoms by salivary cortisol testing 92% of the times. These findings suggest that teachers evaluate stress-related behaviors and symptoms more objectively than parents do. Furthermore boys were more likely than girls to be above the cutoff points regarding hair cortisone (OR=3.0) and rule-breaking behavior symptom (OR=7.7).
Main subject category:
Health Sciences
Keywords:
Adolescent depression, Adolescent aggression, Saliva cortisol, Hair cortisol, Saliva cutoff point, Hair cortisol cutoff point, Hair cortisone cutoff point
