Maternal Influence on Child HPA Axis: A Prospective Study of Cortisol Levels in Hair

Abstract

WHAT'S KNOWN ON THIS SUBJECT: Stress affects health of children, potentially persisting as a trajectory into adulthood. Earlier biological markers assess only momentary stress, making it difficult to investigate stress over longer periods of time. Cortisol in hair is a new biomarker of prolonged stress. WHAT THIS STUDY ADDS:Mother and child hair cortisol association suggests a heritable part or maternal calibration. Cortisol output gradually stabilizes, has a stable trait, and is positively correlated to birth weight. Hair cortisol is a promising noninvasive biomarker of prolonged stress, especially applicable for children. abstract OBJECTIVE: To investigate cortisol concentrations in hair as biomarker of prolonged stress in young children and their mothers and the relation to perinatal and sociodemographic factors.METHODS: Prospective cohort study of 100 All Babies In Southeast Sweden study participants with repeated measures at 1, 3, 5, and 8 years and their mothers during pregnancy. Prolonged stress levels were assessed through cortisol in hair. A questionnaire covered perinatal and sociodemographic factors during the child' s first year of life. RESULTS:Maternal hair cortisol during the second and third trimester and child hair cortisol at year 1 and 3 correlated. Child cortisol in hair levels decreased over time and correlated to each succeeding age, between years 1 and 3 (r = 0.30, P = .002), 3 and 5 (r = 0.39, P , .001), and 5 and 8 (r = 0.44, P , .001). Repeated measures gave a significant linear association over time (P , .001). There was an association between high levels of hair cortisol and birth weight (b = .224, P = .020), nonappropriate size for gestational age (b = .231, P = .017), and living in an apartment compared with a house (b = .200, P = .049). In addition, we found high levels of cortisol in hair related to other factors associated with psychosocial stress exposure. CONCLUSIONS:Correlation between hair cortisol levels in mothers and their children suggests a heritable trait or maternal calibration of the child' s hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical axis. Cortisol output gradually stabilizes and seems to have a stable trait. Cortisol concentration in hair has the potential to become a biomarker of prolonged stress, especially applicable as a noninvasive method when studying how stress influences children' s health. Pediatrics 2013;132:e1333-e1340

Determinants of maternal hair cortisol concentrations at delivery reflecting the last trimester of pregnancy

“…Karlén et al (2013) showed high correlations of HCC during the three trimesters of pregnancy (r = 0.74-0.93) and this corresponds well to previous data showing high test-retest correlations in non-pregnant samples (r = 0.68-0.79; . In addition, absolute hair cortisol levels observed in the current study were also similar to those reported in previous research on pregnant women (Kalra et al, 2007;Karlén et al, 2013).…”

Validation and Reference Ranges of Hair Cortisol Measurement in Healthy Children

“…The differences may be explained in the relative overrepresentation of very young children, as serum cortisol show high and variable concentrations during infancy [13]. The high variability in HCC at young age has also been demonstrated by Karlén et al [16], measuring hair cortisol in children of 1, 3, 5, and 8 years of age. HCC showed a large variation in the very young, which decreased with increasing age.…”

Long-Term Cortisol Concentration in Scalp Hair of Asthmatic Children Using Inhaled Corticosteroids: A Case-Control Study

“…Moreover, the median age of asthmatic children was markedly younger (4 years, range 1.4–8.8). HCC levels have proven to be high and variable during infancy [27, 28]. Karlén et al [27] found that HCC measured in healthy children of 1 and 3 years of age proved to correlate with maternal cortisol levels during pregnancy but after periods of high variability were found to stabilize at older age (5 and 8 years).…”

“…HCC levels have proven to be high and variable during infancy [27, 28]. Karlén et al [27] found that HCC measured in healthy children of 1 and 3 years of age proved to correlate with maternal cortisol levels during pregnancy but after periods of high variability were found to stabilize at older age (5 and 8 years). This could imply that it is difficult to compare our study group with the children in Smy et al [21].…”