Whites have a more robust hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis response to a psychological stressor than blacks

Abstract

SummaryObjective-Differences in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis response to stress may confer differences in susceptibility to a variety of diseases. We hypothesized that whites would differ from blacks in HPA axis response to a psychological stressor.Design-Healthy subjects aged 18-30 were recruited from Baltimore, Maryland. At initial assessment, they completed psychometric tests measuring anxiety, mood, and personality. Subjects then participated in the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST), which consisted of 10 min of public speaking and mental arithmetic exercises. Subjective anxiety was measured immediately pre-and post-TSST. Race effects on cortisol, adrenocorticotrophin (ACTH), and prolactin responses to the TSST were analyzed by GEE longitudinal analysis methods. The analysis controlled for gender, baseline hormone levels, socioeconomic factors, anxiety, mood, and dimensions of personality.Results-Ninety-eight subjects participated in the TSST. Whites had 36% greater relative mean cortisol response than blacks (95% CI: 10%-67%, P = 0.004). Whites had significantly higher mean ACTH compared to blacks at 25 min after the start of the TSST, (35%, 95% CI: 16%-58% greater, P < 0.001). There was no difference in prolactin response. Of note, whites and blacks did not differ in subjective anxiety response to the TSST.Conclusions-In sum, we found that whites have a more robust HPA axis response to the TSST compared with blacks, even after controlling for several socioeconomic and psychological factors. In contrast, we observed no difference in prolactin response. There were no differences in subjective response to the TSST to explain the difference in HPA axis response. Further study is indicated to explain this finding and to test whether it can be extrapolated to other forms of stress.

Cortisol Stress Response in Men and Women Modulated Differentially by the Mu-Opioid Receptor Gene Polymorphism OPRM1 A118G

“…The GA/GG allele women exhibited nonsignificantly higher basal cortisol values during the stress protocol, possibly attenuating the stress response due to a ceiling effect or negative feedback dampening of HPA reactivity. An elevated baseline is not a persistent characteristic of the GA/GG allele genotype; the female genotype groups exhibited no baseline differences during the placebo condition in the naltrexone protocol (Figure 2), as also found by others (Chong et al, 2008). Another group reported elevated cortisol secretion in AA women (Bart et al, 2006).…”

Sex defines the age dependence of endogenous ACTH-cortisol dose responsiveness

“…The present outcomes supported by some (12,32,46,53,62,81), but not other (18,48,55,70), indirect analyses. Contradictory earlier data may reflect in part the influence of stressor type on sex differences (71); small numbers of subjects studied (40,59,77,78); morning vs. late-day sampling (72); and possible effects of ethnicity (14,80).…”

“…Nonetheless, other studies have reported no age or sex effects (19,29,32,46,48,53). Certain of these discrepancies could be due to ethnicity differences (14,80), time-of-day effects (72), measurement of cortisol in plasma, saliva, or urine (41,43,58), nature of stressor (54,71), basal vs. stressed states (2,81), concurrent obesity (1,23,33,67,68,70), estrogen use (46), stage of menstrual cycle (40), dietary carbohydrate intake (65), and potential sex-by-age interactions (78). The last consideration has been assessed in untreated children (28) and in adults following sequential dexamethasone/CRH exposure (30).…”

Subjective Response to Alcohol and ADH Polymorphisms in a Select Sample of Young Adult Male East Indians and Africans in Trinidad and Tobago

“…For instance, lower cortisol levels upon waking and during the day (after controlling for socioeconomic and psychological factors) have been found in African Americans compared with Whites (Bennett et al, 2004;Cohen et al, 2006). In addition, African Americans reportedly have a lower HPA axis response to psychological stress compared with Whites (Chong et al, 2008). The ethnic variations in adrenocortical response to the stress during laboratory procedures may also be explained by the differences in BMI observed in Indo-T and Afro-T (Afro-T had higher BMI than Indo-T).…”