Harrison, R.F., Debono, M., Whitaker, M.J. et al. (3 more authors) (2019) Salivary cortisone to estimate cortisol exposure and sampling frequency required based on serum cortisol measurements. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, 104 (3). pp. 765-772. ISSN 0021-972X
Abstract
Context
Population studies frequently measure cortisol as a marker of stress and excess cortisol is associated with increased mortality. Cortisol has a circadian rhythm and frequent blood sampling is impractical to assess exposure. We investigated measuring salivary cortisone and examined sampling frequency required to determine cortisol exposure.
Methods
Serum and saliva with cortisol and cortisone measured by LC-MS/MS in independent cohorts. The relationship between serum cortisol and salivary cortisone was analysed in cohort 1 using a linear mixed effects model and resulting fixed effects component was applied to cohort 2. Saliva cannot easily be collected when sleeping so we determined minimum sampling required to estimate cortisol exposure (eAUC) using 24-hour cortisol profiles (AUC24) and calculated the relative error (RE - a measure similar to the coefficient of variation) for the eAUC.
Results
>90% of variability in salivary cortisone could be accounted for by change in serum cortisol. A single serum cortisol measurement was a poor estimate of AUC24 especially in the morning or last thing at night (RE > 68%), however 3 equally spaced samples gave a median RE of 0% (Interquartile range (IQR) between -15.6% and 15.1%). In patients with adrenal incidentalomas the eAUC based on 3 serum cortisol samples showed a difference between those with autonomous cortisol secretion and those without (p=0.03).
Interpretation
Accepting that most people sleep 7-8 hours, using approximately 8-hourly salivary cortisone measurements provides a non-invasive method of estimating 24-hour cortisol exposure for population studies.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2019 Endocrine Society. This article has been published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Sheffield Teaching Hospitals |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number LABORATOIRE HRA PHARMA 122015-001 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 24 Oct 2018 10:25 |
Last Modified: | 03 May 2024 15:35 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Oxford University Press |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1210/jc.2018-01172 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:137679 |