ReviewDevelopmental psychobiology2019
Innovations in biological assessments of chronic stress through hair and nail cortisol: Conceptual, developmental, and methodological issues.
Review in Developmental psychobiology, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 33 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
33 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Early childhood stress responses to psychosocial stressors: The state of the science.Developmental psychobiology · 2022Pooled it
- A systematic review of hair cortisol during pregnancy: Reference ranges and methodological considerations.Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2020Pooled it
- Trial
- Men of Color Health Awareness intervention: changes in adrenocortical activity assessed using fingernail cortisol.Frontiers in public health · 2025Trial
- Associating Emergency Medical Services personnel's workload, trauma exposure, and health with the cortisol, endocannabinoid, and N-acylethanolamine concentrations in their hair.Scientific reports · 2020Trial
- Toward actionable biomarkers in psychiatry: a collaborative roadmap for precision clinical trials. An ACNP position paper.NPP - digital psychiatry and neuroscience · 2026Article
- Positive Cortisol-Testosterone Hormonal Coupling Among Adolescents in Argentina and Jordan.American journal of biological anthropology · 2025Article
- Childhood trauma cortisol and immune cell glucocorticoid transcript levels are associated with increased risk for suicidality in adolescence.Molecular psychiatry · 2025Article
- Claw growth rates in a subset of adult, indoor, domestic cats (Felis catus).Veterinary dermatology · 2025Article
- Effects of natural environments on drug contents in nails: comparison of drug residual rates between nails and hair to determine the drug-use history of corpses in unnatural death cases using micro-segmental analysis.Forensic toxicology · 2025Article
- Current Challenges and Future Directions in the Assessment of Glucocorticoid Status.Endocrine reviews · 2024Review
- Associations of Household and Neighborhood Contexts and Hair Cortisol Among Mexican-Origin Adolescents From Low-Income Immigrant Families.Developmental psychobiology · 2024Article
- Do Hormone Levels Influence Bullying during Childhood and Adolescence? A Systematic Review of the Literature.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Hair cortisol and self-perceived stress in adolescents with multi-system functional somatic disorders.BMC psychiatry · 2024Article
- Reliability of low mass toenail samples as biomarkers of chronic metal exposure.Journal of exposure science & environmental epidemiology · 2023Article
- Longitudinal course of endocannabinoids andPsychological medicine · 2023Article
- Biomarkers of Stress and Inflammation in Children.Biological research for nursing · 2023Article
- Hair cortisol is not associated with reactogenicity after MMR-vaccination in 6-month-old infants.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2023Article
- Parenting and Adjustment Problems among Preschoolers during COVID-19.Journal of child and family studies · 2023Article
- Application of Felid Hair for Non-Invasive Tracking of Animal Reproductive Status and Adrenal Activity.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Much of the existing research on biological mechanisms underlying the stress experience has focused largely on moment-to-moment stress, rather than on chronic stress, an arguably more powerful predictor of long-term outcomes. Recent methodological innovations have paved the way for new lines of research on chronic stress, with promising implications for developmental researchers and for those who study health and adversity. In particular, there are increasing studies that have focused on chronic stress assessments by relying on cortisol derived from hair and nails as a biomarker for chronic stress. In this paper, we provide an overview of their use, describe how hair and nail cortisol ought to be conceptualized differently across the lifespan, how developmental factors may impact its interpretation, and the circumstances under which its use may be more methodologically sensible. The purpose of this review is to provoke further discussion and encourage careful research designs that utilize hair and nail cortisol for understanding the effects of chronic stress exposure from the early developmental period, across adverse contexts, and in association with psychological and physical health outcomes.
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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.