Persistent effects of cognitive-behavioral stress management on cortisol responses to acute stress in healthy subjects: a randomized controlled trial

Psychosocial stress leads to a release of cortisol. While this psychoneuroendocrine response helps to maintain physiological as well as psychological equilibrium under stress, exaggerated secretion of cortisol has been shown to have negative effects on somatic health and cognitive functioning. The study set out to examine the long-term effects of cognitive-behavioral stress management training on cortisol stress responses in healthy men and women. Eighty-three healthy subjects were randomly assigned to cognitive-behavioral stress management (CBSM) training or a control condition. Four months after the CBSM, 76 subjects underwent a standardized psychosocial stress test. Salivary cortisol responses were assessed repeatedly before and after the stress test. Subjects in the CBSM group showed significantly reduced cortisol stress responses. With regard to gender, this effect was observed in both men and women. However, the magnitude of the CBSM effect on cortisol responses was smaller in women than in men. Use of oral contraceptives in women influenced the cortisol response, but did not have an impact on the CBSM effect on cortisol. The results show that the previously reported attenuation of cortisol stress responses through CBSM persists and are observable in both men and women. Since stress-induced alterations of hypothalamus pituitary adrenal axis functioning are discussed to be involved in the onset and maintenance of both somatic and psychiatric conditions, similar interventions could be used for prevention and therapy of these detrimental stress effects

Variability in hydrocortisone plasma and saliva pharmacokinetics following intravenous and oral administration to patients with adrenal insufficiency

The best method for determining hydrocortisone replacement therapy is not well defined. This study aimed to assess interindividual variability in cortisol pharmacokinetics and to investigate whether measurement of salivary cortisol provides a useful alternative to plasma concentration measurements. Patients Twenty-seven patients with primary or secondary adrenal insufficiency who had been on stable replacement therapy for at least 3 months. Cmax ranged from 715 to 8313 nmol/l, area under the curve (AUC) from 1112 to 12 177 nmol h/l and cortisol clearance had a median (range) of 0·267 (0·076-0·540) l/h/kg. After oral administration, Cmax ranged from 422 to 1554 nmol/l, AUC 1081-5471 nmol h/l and oral clearance had a median (range) of 0·267 (0·081-0·363) l/h/kg. There was no clear relationship between paired saliva and plasma cortisol concentrations after IV or oral dosing. Plasma and salivary AUC2−8 h after IV administration were highly correlated (r2 = 0·77) but differences between predicted and measured plasma AUCs ranged from 3% to 90%. There was a poor correlation between plasma and saliva AUC2−6 h after oral administration (r2 = 0·16). The wide interindividual variability in plasma and salivary profiles of cortisol following the administration of IV and oral hydrocortisone to patients with adrenal insufficiency and the poor correlation between salivary and plasma measurements suggest that salivary cortisol measurements cannot be used for individual hydrocortisone dosage adjustment