The DOI matches its Crossref record; 47 of the 47 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Hair cortisol concentrations and cortisol stress reactivity predict PTSD symptom increase after trauma exposure during military deployment
Abstract
Background Previous evidence on endocrine risk markers for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has been inconclusive. Here, we report results of the first prospective study to investigate whether long-term hair cortisol levels and experimentally-induced cortisol stress reactivity are predictive of the development of PTSD symptomatology in response to trauma during military deployment.Methods Male soldiers were examined before deployment to Afghanistan and at a 12-month post-deployment follow-up using dimensional measures for psychopathological symptoms. The predictive value of baseline (i) hair cortisol concentrations (HCC, N=90) and (ii) salivary cortisol stress reactivity (measured by the Trier Social Stress Test, N=80) for the development of PTSD symptomatology after being exposed to new-onset traumatic events was analyzed.Results Baseline cortisol activity significantly predicted PTSD symptom change from baseline to follow-up upon trauma exposure. Specifically, our results consistently revealed that lower HCC and lower cortisol stress reactivity were predictive of a greater increase in PTSD symptomatology in soldiers who had experienced new-onset traumatic events (explaining 5% and 10.3% of variance, respectively). Longitudinal analyses revealed an increase in HCC from baseline to follow-up and a trend for a negative relationship between HCC changes and the number of new-onset traumatic events. Additional pre-deployment analyses revealed that trauma history was reflected in lower HCC (at trend level) and that HCC were negatively related to stressful load.Conclusions Our data indicate that attenuated cortisol secretion is a risk marker for subsequent development of PTSD symptomatology upon trauma exposure. Future studies are needed to confirm our findings in other samples.
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“providing prospective validation of the hair cortisol method as a field-friendly biological marker of stress exposure”
From Chronic Stress, Hair Cortisol and Depression: A Prospective and Longitudinal Study of Medical Internship (2018) · cites this paper as Steudte-Schmiedgen et al., 2015
Citations
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Chen, Y., Künzel, R. G., Sánchez, S. E., Rondón, M. B., Pinto, N., Sánchez, E., Kirschbaum, C., Valeri, L., Koenen, K. C., & Gelaye, B. (2024) · European Journal of Epidemiology · doi:10.1007/s10654-024-01174-w · Cited by 6
“…traumatized individuals showed an attenuated cortisol response to laboratory social stress inductions compared to non-traumatized individuals [74 – 76] but exposure to a trauma related-condition, such as trauma recall or confrontation, was associated with an elevated cortisol response [77,78].”
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“…cortisol levels are commonly reported to be lower in PTSD patients when compared to those of healthy controls (Steudte-Schmiedgen, Kirschbaum, Alexander, & Stalder, 2016; Steudte-Schmiedgen et al., 2015; van Zuiden et al., 2019), but there are contradictory findings (van den Heuvel et al., 2020).”
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BackgroundInfluentialLinking hair cortisol and life stress: The role of stress reactivity and habituation
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Pre-trauma memory contextualization as predictor for PTSD-like behavior in male rats
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“Lower cortisol levels or reactivity in the acute trauma phase may be predictive for the development (Delahanty et al. 2000) or intensity (Ehring et al. 2008) of PTSD symptoms, while reduced pre-trauma cortisol reactivity may predict increased vulnerability (Steudte-Schmiedgen et al. 2015).”
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“…PTSD symptoms in high-risk professionals, reported null findings (Heinrichs et al., 2005; van Zuiden et al., 2011, 2012), with the exception of Steudte-Schmiedgen et al. (2015) who reported lower hair cortisol levels and lower cortisol stress reactivity predicting higher PTSD symptoms after…”
BackgroundPost-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Men
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Metadata
- Authors
- Steudte-Schmiedgen, S., Stalder, T., Schönfeld, S., Wittchen, H.-U., Trautmann, S., Alexander, N., Miller, R., & Kirschbaum, C.
- Affiliations
- Technische Universität Dresden (DE)
- Venue
- Psychoneuroendocrinology
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2015-09
- Volume
- 59
- Pages
- 123-133
- ISSN
- 0306-4530 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W1483199116
- Cited by
- 130
- References
- 47
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 12 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 15 · 2021: 13 · 2020: 20 · 2019: 13 · 2018: 10 · 2017: 20 · 2016: 7 · 2015: 2
- FWCI
- 16.12
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Psychoneuroendocrinology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Research
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Behavioral Neuroscience › Stress Responses and Cortisol
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child Abuse and Trauma
- Keywords
- post-traumatic stress disorder, hair cortisol, salivary cortisol, Trier Social Stress Test, military deployment, military personnel, trauma exposure, stress load, trauma history
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Hair, Humans, Hydrocortisone, Life Change Events, Longitudinal Studies, Male, Military Personnel, Predictive Value of Tests, Prospective Studies, Psychometrics, Risk Factors, Saliva, Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic, Stress, Psychological, Wounds and Injuries, Afghan Campaign 2001-
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