The CIRCORT database: Reference ranges and seasonal changes in diurnal salivary cortisol derived from a meta-dataset comprised of 15 field studies
Open accessAbstract
Diurnal salivary cortisol profiles are valuable indicators of adrenocortical functioning in epidemiological research and clinical practice. However, normative reference values derived from a large number of participants and across a wide age range are still missing. To fill this gap, data were compiled from 15 independently conducted field studies with a total of 104,623 salivary cortisol samples obtained from 18,698 unselected individuals (mean age: 48.3 years, age range: 0.5-98.5 years, 39% females). Besides providing a descriptive analysis of the complete dataset, we also performed mixed-effects growth curve modeling of diurnal salivary cortisol (i.e., 1-16h after awakening). Cortisol decreased significantly across the day and was influenced by both, age and sex. Intriguingly, we also found a pronounced impact of sampling season with elevated diurnal cortisol in spring and decreased levels in autumn. However, the majority of variance was accounted for by between-participant and between-study variance components. Based on these analyses, reference ranges (LC/MS-MS calibrated) for cortisol concentrations in saliva were derived for different times across the day, with more specific reference ranges generated for males and females in different age categories. This integrative summary provides important reference values on salivary cortisol to aid basic scientists and clinicians in interpreting deviations from the normal diurnal cycle.
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During adolescence and beyond the age of 50, a gradual increase in salivary cortisol was observed for both males and females.
“Similarly, during adolescence and beyond the age of 50, a gradual increase in salivary cortisol was observed for both males and females, which was argued to be attributed to the onset of puberty.[ 26 ]”
From MicroSweat: A wearable microfluidic patch for noninvasive and reliable sweat collection enables human stress monitoring (2023) · cites this paper as [26]
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References 52 · Cited by 203
- Authors
- Miller, R., Stalder, T., Jarczok, M., Almeida, D. M., Badrick, E., Bartels, M., Boomsma, D. I., Coe, C. L., Dekker, M. C. J., Donzella, B., Fischer, J. E., Gunnar, M. R., Kumari, M., Lederbogen, F., Power, C., Ryff, C. D., Subramanian, S. V., Tiemeier, H., Watamura, S. E., & Kirschbaum, C.
- Affiliations
- Technische Universität Dresden (DE)
- Pennsylvania State University (US)
- University of Manchester (GB)
- Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (NL)
- University of Wisconsin–Madison (US)
- University of Minnesota (US)
- Heidelberg University (DE)
- University College London (GB)
- Harvard University (US)
- Erasmus MC (NL)
- University of Denver (US)
- Corresponding author
- Miller, Robert
- ORCID
- Venue
- Psychoneuroendocrinology
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2016-11
- Volume
- 73
- Pages
- 16-23
- ISSN
- 0306-4530 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC5108362
- OpenAlex
- W2465060799
- Cited by
- 203
- References
- 52
- Citations by year
- 2026: 12 · 2025: 13 · 2024: 22 · 2023: 26 · 2022: 23 · 2021: 24 · 2020: 22 · 2019: 30 · 2018: 13 · 2017: 17 · 2016: 1
- FWCI
- 12.99
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Update notices
- erratum (2017-02-01)
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Psychoneuroendocrinology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- EUR Research Repository (Erasmus University Rotterdam) (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Open Access at Essex (University of Essex) (acceptedVersion)
- Research Explorer (The University of Manchester) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- EUR Research Repository (Erasmus University Rotterdam) (submittedVersion)
- RePub (Erasmus University Rotterdam) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
- University of Groningen research database (University of Groningen / Centre for Information Technology) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- RePub (Erasmus University Rotterdam) (submittedVersion)
- VU Research Portal (submittedVersion)
- Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- NIHR Biomedical Research Centre, Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust/Institute of Cancer Research
- National Institute for Health and Care Research
- University College London
- Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children
- National Institutes of Health (UL1TR001425)
- Medical Research Council (G0000934)
- National Institute on Aging (P01AG020166, U19AG051426)
- National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Behavioral Neuroscience › Stress Responses and Cortisol
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism › Adrenal Hormones and Disorders
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Clinical Laboratory Practices and Quality Control
- Keywords
- reference values, seasonal variation, age differences, sex differences, adrenocortical function, diurnal cortisol rhythm, between-study variance
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Child, Child, Preschool, Circadian Rhythm, Europe, Female, Humans, Hydrocortisone, Infant, Male, Middle Aged, Reference Values, Saliva, Seasons, United States, Young Adult, Datasets as Topic
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