ArticlePsychoneuroendocrinology2020
Increased dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) is associated with anxiety in adolescent girls.
Article in Psychoneuroendocrinology, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 26 citations in OpenAlex.
- Adrenarche, social cognition, and the development and evolution of autism spectrum traits.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- The association between age at menarche and depression: A systematic review and meta-analysis with meta-regression.Clinics (Sao Paulo, Brazil) · 2025Pooled it
- The sex-specific role of adrenal androgens in youth psychopathology.Translational psychiatry · 2026Article
- Early Pubertal Development Is a Risk Factor for Psychotic-Like Experiences in Boys and Girls.Biological psychiatry global open science · 2026Article
- Impact of Sex and Salivary Dehydroepiandrosterone on the Association Between Testosterone and Emotion Dysregulation.Developmental psychobiology · 2025Article
- Central Precocious Puberty and Psychiatric Disorders.JAMA network open · 2025Article
- Model for predicting metabolic activity in athletes based on biochemical blood test analysis.Sports medicine and health science · 2025Article
- Salivary hormones in depression: the future in diagnosis and treatment.Annals of general psychiatry · 2025Review
- Pubertal hormones and mental health problems in children and adolescents: a systematic review of population-based studies.EClinicalMedicine · 2024Review
- The associates of anxiety among lung cancer patients: Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) as a potential biomarker.BMC cancer · 2024Article
- Neuroendocrine mechanisms in the links between early life stress, affect, and youth substance use: A conceptual model for the study of sex and gender differences.Frontiers in neuroendocrinology · 2024Review
- Multiple exposures to heavy metals and changes in steroid hormones production in 4-year-old children.Journal of exposure science & environmental epidemiology · 2023Article
- Profiles of diurnal cortisol and DHEA regulation among children: Associations with maltreatment experiences, symptomatology, and positive adaptation.Development and psychopathology · 2023Article
- Non-linear associations between HPA axis activity during infancy and mental health difficulties during early childhood among children in rural Pakistan.Development and psychopathology · 2023Article
- Effects of a maternal psychosocial intervention on hair derived biomarkers of HPA axis function in mothers and children in rural Pakistan.SSM. Mental health · 2022Article
- Methods for characterizing ovarian and adrenal hormone variability and mood relationships in peripubertal females.Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2022Article
- Variations in Salivary Stress Biomarkers and Their Relationship with Anxiety, Self-Efficacy and Sleeping Quality in Emergency Health Care Professionals.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
- Protocol of the Study on Emergency Health Care Workers' Responses Evaluated by Karasek Questionnaire: The SEEK-Study Protocol.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
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Abstract
The pubertal period is a time of rapid increase in the incidence of anxiety disorders, and thus, pubertal hormones may play a role in the precipitation of anxious psychopathology. DHEA, a steroid hormone that surges in adolescence, has been previously linked to anxiety, although the direction of this effect has been mixed. Using a cross-sectional design in a sample of 286 adolescent girls, the present study examined associations between salivary DHEA concentrations and self-report and interview-based measures of anxiety while controlling for pubertal status, menarche status, assessment time of day, and other hormones including testosterone, estradiol, and progesterone. Increased salivary DHEA concentrations were associated with more self-reported anxiety symptoms, increased anxiety symptom counts based on clinical interview, and increased probability of an anxiety disorder. Out of all anxiety symptom domains examined, generalized anxiety disorder symptoms were the best predictor of salivary DHEA concentrations after controlling for pubertal development. Collectively, our findings suggest relevance for DHEA in the development of anxiety in the pubertal period, as well as a robust relationship between DHEA and emerging symptoms of pathological worry during adolescence. The present study underscores the importance of examining associations between DHEA concentrations and anxiety in longitudinal designs.
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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.