ArticleThe British journal of psychiatry : the journal of mental science2014
Cortisol awakening response and subsequent depression: prospective longitudinal study.
Article in The British journal of psychiatry : the journal of mental science, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 29 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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The trial behind it
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Who cites it
29 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 61 citations in OpenAlex.
- Cortisol and development of depression in adolescence and young adulthood - a systematic review and meta-analysis.Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2022Pooled it
- Diurnal cortisol slopes and mental and physical health outcomes: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2017Pooled it
- Effects of left anodal transcranial direct current stimulation on hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activity in depression: a randomized controlled pilot trial.Scientific reports · 2023Trial
- Associations among hair cortisol-to-DHEA ratio, psychological capital, harsh parenting, and internalizing problems in adolescence.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- ATLAS-a psychobiological model of teacher stress in classroom interactions.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Review
- Do not exclude your observations: Negative cortisol awakening responses (CAR) may be biologically relevant.Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2025Article
- Fasting blood glucose mediated the association between a body shape index and depression: a cross sectional study from NHANES 2017-2023.Frontiers in nutrition · 2025Article
- Assessing the Role of Cortisol in Anxiety, Major Depression, and Neuroticism: A Mendelian Randomization Study UsingBiological psychiatry global open science · 2024Article
- Obesity and psychological distress.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2023Review
- Gender Differences in Cortisol and Cortisol Receptors in Depression: A Narrative Review.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Review
- Childhood Trajectories of Hyperactivity/Inattention Symptoms and Diurnal Cortisol in Middle Adolescence: Results from a UK Birth Cohort.Journal of attention disorders · 2022Article
- Temporal and diurnal variation in social media posts to a suicide support forum.BMC psychiatry · 2021Article
- Differential Susceptibility to the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Working Memory, Empathy, and Perceived Stress: The Role of Cortisol and Resilience.Brain sciences · 2021Article
- Sleep problems in adolescence are prospectively linked to later depressive symptoms via the cortisol awakening response.Development and psychopathology · 2020Article
- Moms Are Not OK: COVID-19 and Maternal Mental Health.Frontiers in global women's health · 2020Article
- The cortisol awakening response (CAR) interacts with acute interpersonal stress to prospectively predict depressive symptoms among early adolescent girls.Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2019Article
- Cortisol awakening response and additive serotonergic genetic risk interactively predict depression in two samples: The 2019 Donald F. Klein Early Career Investigator Award Paper.Depression and anxiety · 2019Article
- Racial/ethnic disparities in cortisol diurnal patterns and affect in adolescence.Development and psychopathology · 2018Article
- Depression, evening salivary cortisol and inflammation in chronic fatigue syndrome: A psychoneuroendocrinological structural regression model.International journal of psychophysiology : official journal of the International Organization of Psychophysiology · 2018Article
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Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 5 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundSome studies have found an association between elevated cortisol and subsequent depression, but findings are inconsistent. The cortisol awakening response may be a more stable measure of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal function and potentially of stress reactivity.
aimsTo investigate whether salivary cortisol, particularly the cortisol awakening response, is associated with subsequent depression in a large population cohort.
methodYoung people (aged 15 years, n = 841) from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) collected salivary cortisol at four time points for 3 school days. Logistic regression was used to calculate odds ratios for developing depression meeting ICD-10 criteria at 18 years.
resultsWe found no evidence for an association between salivary cortisol and subsequent depression. Odds ratios for the cortisol awakening response were 1.24 per standard deviation (95% CI 0.93-1.66, P = 0.14) before and 1.12 (95% CI 0.73-1.72, P = 0.61) after adjustment for confounding factors. There was no evidence that the other cortisol measures, including cortisol at each time point, diurnal drop and area under the curve, were associated with subsequent depression.
conclusionsOur findings do not support the hypothesis that elevated salivary cortisol increases the short-term risk of subsequent depressive illness. The results suggest that if an association does exist, it is small and unlikely to be of clinical significance.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.