ArticleCancer causes & control : CCC2018
Fingernail and toenail clippings as a non-invasive measure of chronic cortisol levels in adult cancer survivors.
Article in Cancer causes & control : CCC, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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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
13 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 23 citations in OpenAlex.
- Basal cortisol, cortisol reactivity, and telomere length: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2019Pooled it
- Vegetable Gardening and Health Outcomes in Older Cancer Survivors: A Randomized Clinical Trial.JAMA network open · 2024Trial
- Harvest for Health, a Randomized Controlled Trial Testing a Home-Based, Vegetable Gardening Intervention Among Older Cancer Survivors Across Alabama: An Analysis of Accrual and Modifications Made in Intervention Delivery and Assessment During COVID-19.Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics · 2022Trial
- Trial
- Association of effort-reward imbalance with fingernail cortisol levels in apparel manufacturing workers.Industrial health · 2026Article
- Bioanalysis of amphetamines in alternative matrices using a sensitive and validated liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method and its application to real samples.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Psychobiologic Correlates of Stress in Individuals With COPD.Chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (Miami, Fla.) · 2025Article
- Current Challenges and Future Directions in the Assessment of Glucocorticoid Status.Endocrine reviews · 2024Review
- Time-course changes in fingernail cortisol levels during pregnancy and postpartum.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Reliability of low mass toenail samples as biomarkers of chronic metal exposure.Journal of exposure science & environmental epidemiology · 2023Article
- The Mind-Body Study: study design and reproducibility and interrelationships of psychosocial factors in the Nurses' Health Study II.Cancer causes & control : CCC · 2019Article
- Innovations in biological assessments of chronic stress through hair and nail cortisol: Conceptual, developmental, and methodological issues.Developmental psychobiology · 2019Review
- Associations of perceived stress with the present and subsequent cortisol levels in fingernails among medical students: a prospective pilot study.Psychology research and behavior management · 2018Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
purposeCancer survivors are at greater risk of comorbidities and functional decline due to physiological and psychological stress which can be measured by salivary cortisol. If saliva is used, multiple samples must be collected to accurately quantify long-term stress; however, fingernail (FN) and toenail (TN) clippings offer an opportunity to measure retrospective cortisol levels in a non-invasive manner.
methodsThree sets of FN and TN clippings were collected at 12-month intervals in conjunction with saliva samples from cancer survivors (n = 109) participating in two clinical trials. FN and TN samples were stored at room temperature (RT); a subset underwent additional processing and freezing before analysis. Cortisol levels were determined via enzyme immunoassay, and correlation coefficients were generated to determine overall correspondence of the individual measures.
resultsMatched RT and frozen samples were highly correlated for TN (r = 0.950, p = 5.44 × 10
conclusionsFN and TN cortisol levels correlate with salivary cortisol in adult cancer survivors and may offer a less invasive and convenient means for measuring chronic cortisol levels.
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Registered trials
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