ArticlePsychoneuroendocrinology2021
Stress and hair cortisol concentrations in nurses during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Article in Psychoneuroendocrinology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers.
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Who cites it
23 citing papers in PubMed, 46 citations in OpenAlex.
- Elevated Hair Cortisol Concentrations Are Associated With Poor Sleep Quality Evaluated Using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index but Not With Actigraphy.Journal of sleep research · 2026Article
- Psychological and Physiological Assessment of Distress Among Public Healthcare Workers During Pandemic Control Efforts.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Promoting Healthy Organizations Through Urban Nature: Psychological and Physiological Effects in Healthcare Workers.European journal of investigation in health, psychology and education · 2025Article
- Metabolic abnormalities of the cortico‑striato‑thalamo‑cortical circuit of rats with tic disorder.Molecular medicine reports · 2025Article
- Effect of Coping Strategies on Perceived Stress and Hair Cortisol Levels During the COVID-19 Pandemic According to Sex.Stress and health : journal of the International Society for the Investigation of Stress · 2025Article
- Prosocial reputation and stress among contemporary hunter-gatherers: the Hadza case.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Age and Hair Cortisol Levels as Predictors of SARS-CoV-2 Infection.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2024Article
- The Psychoneuroimmunological Model of Moral Distress and Health in Healthcare Workers: Toward Individual and System-Level Solutions.Comprehensive psychoneuroendocrinology · 2024Review
- Endocannabinoids, endocannabinoid-like compounds and cortisone in head hair of health care workers as markers of stress and resilience during the early COVID-19 pandemic.Translational psychiatry · 2024Article
- When asking 'are you stressed?' is not enough: Hair cortisol, subjective stress, and alcohol use during the first year of the pandemic.Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2023Article
- Increases in stress hormone levels in a UK population during the COVID-19 pandemic: A prospective cohort study.Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2023Article
- Status does not predict stress among Hadza hunter-gatherer men.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Salivary cortisol in university students after the COVID-19 pandemic.Comprehensive psychoneuroendocrinology · 2022Article
- Pre-pandemic socio-emotional vulnerability, internalizing and externalizing symptoms predict changes in hair cortisol concentrations in reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic in children.Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2022Article
- Investigating the influence of shift work rosters on stress measured as cortisol in hair during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2022Article
- Hair cortisol as a risk marker for increased depressive symptoms among older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic.Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2022Article
- Diurnal dynamics of stress and mood during COVID-19 lockdown: a large multinational ecological momentary assessment study.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2022Article
- Stress in Emergency Healthcare Professionals: The Stress Factors and Manifestations Scale.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Observational
- Hair cortisol change at COVID-19 pandemic onset predicts burnout among health personnel.Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2022Article
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4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
During the COVID-19 pandemic, frontline healthcare workers have been exposed to very stressful conditions. Measuring hair cortisol concentrations (HCCs), which reflect the integrated long-term cortisol levels, may elucidate the impact of COVID-19 related stress on healthcare professionals. In the current study, we investigated experienced stress in 693 healthcare workers, with hair samples for cortisol analysis collected from a subset of 67 female nurses. The HCCs in two 3 cm hair segments corresponding to periods before and during the peak of the first wave of COVID-19 were compared. To evaluate the effect of working in the first line, the sample was divided into two groups based on the COVID-19 risk estimated by the nurses. Covariates in the model included perceived stress (PSS), perceived social support (MSPSS), and quality of sleep (PSQI) measured via an online questionnaire. The data showed that more than 75% of healthcare workers agreed that COVID-19 led to increased stress at their workplace. The hair cortisol analysis showed higher HCCs in the hair segments corresponding to the time of the pandemic compared to hair corresponding to an earlier period (partial η
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