ArticleMetabolism: clinical and experimental2012
Obesity and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis in adolescent girls.
Article in Metabolism: clinical and experimental, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 32 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
32 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 73 citations in OpenAlex.
- Associations Between Different Cortisol Measures and Adiposity in Children: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Frontiers in nutrition · 2022Pooled it
- The Acute Relationship between Affective States and Stress Biomarkers in Ethnic Minority Youths.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Trial
- Influence of Acute Physical Activity on Stress Reactivity in Obese and Normal Weight Children: A Randomized Controlled Trial.Obesity facts · 2019Trial
- Stress-related cortisol response and laboratory eating behavior in obese women.Eating and weight disorders : EWD · 2016Trial
- Review
- From Risks to Roots: The Multifactorial Etiopathogenesis of Childhood Obesity.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Cortisol, dehydroepiandrosterone, and depressive symptoms as pathways from child abuse to obesity.Health psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association · 2025Article
- Article
- Neuropsychiatric Abnormalities in Metabolic Disturbances: Interplay of Adipokines and Neurotransmission.Molecular neurobiology · 2025Review
- Nocturnal Salivary Cortisol Is an Accurate Non-Invasive Test to Assess Endogenous Hypercortisolism in Children with Obesity and a Clinical Phenotype Suspicious for Cushing's Syndrome.Hormone research in paediatrics · 2025Article
- Article
- Article
- Difference in Hair Cortisol Concentrations between Obese and Non-Obese Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Review.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- Clinical and biological correlates of morning serum cortisol in children and adolescents with overweight and obesity.PloS one · 2021Article
- Evidence for disruption of diurnal salivary cortisol rhythm in childhood obesity: relationships with anthropometry, puberty and physical activity.BMC pediatrics · 2020Article
- Sexual Dimorphism of Heart Rate Variability in Adolescence: A Case-Control Study on Depression, Anxiety, Stress Levels, Body Composition, and Heart Rate Variability in Adolescents with Impaired Fasting Glucose.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Article
- Longitudinal associations between overweight/obesity and stress biology in low-income children.International journal of obesity (2005) · 2020Article
- Food craving, cortisol and ghrelin responses in modeling highly palatable snack intake in the laboratory.Physiology & behavior · 2019Article
- High protein intake along with paternal part-time employment is associated with higher body fat mass among girls from South China.European journal of nutrition · 2018Article
- Featured Article: Community Crime Exposure and Risk for Obesity in Preschool Children: Moderation by the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal-Axis Response.Journal of pediatric psychology · 2018Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Stress and stress-related concomitants, including hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis activation, are implicated in obesity and its attendant comorbidities. Little is known about this relationship in adolescents. To begin to address this important knowledge gap, we studied HPA axis activity in 262 healthy adolescent girls aged 11, 13, 15, and 17 years. We hypothesized that obesity would be correlated with increased HPA axis activity and reactivity. Measures of HPA axis activity included 3 blood samples obtained midday (between 1:00 and 2:00 pm) over the course of 40 minutes; overnight urine free cortisol; and cortisol levels 0, 20, and 40 minutes after venipuncture (cortisol reactivity). Measures of adiposity included body mass index (BMI), BMI z score (BMI-Z), percentage body fat, and fat distribution (central adiposity) assessed by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry. Daytime levels of serum cortisol were inversely associated with BMI-Z and central adiposity (P < .05). The urine free cortisol excretion rate was positively correlated with BMI, BMI-Z, and central adiposity. There was blunting of cortisol response to venipuncture with increasing adiposity. Our results suggest that there may be reduced cortisol levels during the day and increased levels at night with increasing degree of adiposity. This study provides preliminary findings indicating an alteration of the circadian rhythm of cortisol with obesity. We conclude that obesity is associated with altered HPA activity in adolescent girls. The clinical implications of our findings require further investigation.
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Registered trials
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