Methodological considerations in use of the cortisol/DHEA(S) ratio in adolescent populations

Saczawa, Mary E.; Graber, Julia A.; Brooks‐Gunn, Jeanne; Warren, Michelle P.

doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2013.06.024

Cited by 21 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…Another limitation with regard to using the DC ratio is that many behavioural studies have used the CD rather than DC ratio. One ratio cannot simply be regarded as the inverse of the other given the differential sensitivities of these hormones to the process of pubertal maturation . Therefore, the results of the present study may not be directly generalisable to populations previously studied using the CD ratio.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 74%

Sex‐specific contribution of DHEA‐cortisol ratio to prefrontal‐hippocampal structural development, cognitive abilities and personality traits

Farooqi

Scotti

et al. 2019

J Neuroendocrinology

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Although dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) may exert neuroprotective effects in the developing brain, prolonged or excessive elevations in cortisol may exert neurotoxic effects. The ratio between DHEA and cortisol (DC ratio) has been linked to internalising and externalising disorders, as well as cognitive performance, supporting the clinical relevance of this hormonal ratio during development. However, the brain mechanisms by which these effects may be mediated have not yet been identified.Furthermore, although there is evidence that the effects of cortisol in the central nervous system may be sexually dimorphic in humans, the opposite is true for DHEA, with human studies showing no sex-specific associations in cortical thickness, cortico-amygdalar or cortico-hippocampal structural covariance. Therefore, it remains unclear whether sex moderates the developmental associations between DC ratio, brain structure, cognition and behaviour. In the present study, we examined the associations between DC ratio, structural covariance of the hippocampus with

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 74%

Sex‐specific contribution of DHEA‐cortisol ratio to prefrontal‐hippocampal structural development, cognitive abilities and personality traits

Farooqi

Scotti

et al. 2019

J Neuroendocrinology

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“…The synthesis and release of both cortisol and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), a hormonal index of adrenarcheal development, are triggered by the same hormone, ACTH. Moreover, DHEA plays a role in the stress system (Saczawa, Graber, Brooks-Gunn, & Warren, 2013), providing a direct biological link between stress and adrenal hormones. As such, adrenarche is an early marker of pubertal onset that predates the release of gonadal hormones.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pubertal development mediates the association between family environment and brain structure and function in childhood

2019

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Psychosocial acceleration theory suggests that pubertal maturation is accelerated in response to adversity. In addition, suboptimal caregiving accelerates development of the amygdala–medial prefrontal cortex circuit. These findings may be related. Here, we assess whether associations between family environment and measures of the amygdala–medial prefrontal cortex circuit are mediated by pubertal development in more than 2000 9- and 10-year-old children from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study (http://dx.doi.org/10.15154/1412097). Using structural equation modeling, demographic, child-reported, and parent-reported data on family dynamics were compiled into a higher level family environment latent variable. Magnetic resonance imaging preprocessing and compilations were performed by the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study's data analysis core. Anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) thickness, area, white matter fractional anisotropy, amygdala volume, and cingulo-opercular network–amygdala resting-state functional connectivity were assessed. For ACC cortical thickness and ACC fractional anisotropy, significant indirect effects indicated that a stressful family environment relates to more advanced pubertal stage and more mature brain structure. For cingulo-opercular network–amygdala functional connectivity, results indicated a trend in the expected direction. For ACC area, evidence for quadratic mediation by pubertal stage was found. Sex-stratified analyses suggest stronger results for girls. Despite small effect sizes, structural measures of circuits important for emotional behavior are associated with family environment and show initial evidence of accelerated pubertal development.

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“…Better recognizing the potential for reactivity patterns to diverge may inform attempts to examine multisystem coordination through this and other methodological approaches. For example, non-identical reactivity patterns could suggest caution is warranted in operationalizing paired reactivity responses as aggregated ratios (47, 48). …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perceived Discrimination, Racial Identity, and Multisystem Stress Response to Social Evaluative Threat Among African American Men and Women

et al. 2017

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Objective Understanding individual differences in the psychobiology of the stress response is critical to grasping how psychosocial factors contribute to racial and ethnic health disparities. However, the ways in which environmentally sensitive biological systems coordinate in response to acute stress is not well understood. We employed a social-evaluative stressor task to investigate coordination among the autonomic nervous system (ANS), hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, immune/inflammatory system, and neurotrophic response system in a community sample of 85 healthy African American men and women. Methods Six saliva samples – two collected before and four collected during and after the stressor – were assayed for cortisol and dehydroepiandrosterone-sulfate (DHEAs; HPA-axis markers), salivary α amylase (sAA; ANS marker), salivary c-reactive protein (sCRP; inflammatory/immune marker), and salivary nerve growth factor (sNGF; neurotrophic marker). Individual differences in perceived discrimination and racial identity were also measured. Results Factor analysis demonstrated that stress systems were largely dissociated before stressor exposure, but became aligned during event and recovery phases into functional biological stress responses (factor loadings .71to.96). Coordinated responses were related to interactions of perceived discrimination and racial identity: when racial identity was strong, high perceived discrimination was associated with low hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis arousal at baseline (B’s = .68 to.72, p < .001) and during the task (B’s =.46 to .62, p ≤ .049), and a robust inflammatory response (sCRP) during recovery (B’s =.72 to.94, p ≤ .002). Conclusion Culturally-relevant social perceptions are linked to a specific pattern of changing alignment in biological stress responses. Better understanding these links may significantly advance understanding of stress-related illnesses and health disparities.

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Methodological considerations in use of the cortisol/DHEA(S) ratio in adolescent populations

Cited by 21 publications

References 16 publications

Sex‐specific contribution of DHEA‐cortisol ratio to prefrontal‐hippocampal structural development, cognitive abilities and personality traits

Sex‐specific contribution of DHEA‐cortisol ratio to prefrontal‐hippocampal structural development, cognitive abilities and personality traits

Pubertal development mediates the association between family environment and brain structure and function in childhood

Perceived Discrimination, Racial Identity, and Multisystem Stress Response to Social Evaluative Threat Among African American Men and Women

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