Observational studyBMC cardiovascular disorders2024
Higher hair cortisol levels associated with previous cardiovascular events and cardiovascular risks in a large cross-sectional population study.
Observational study in BMC cardiovascular disorders, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers.
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed.
- Biomolecular Pathways Linking Preoperative Chronic Stress to Postoperative Cardiovascular Dysfunction in Noncardiac Surgery.Biomolecules · 2026Review
- Beyond the Mission: Long-Term Endocrine Dynamics in Search and Rescue Dog-Handler Teams.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2026Article
- Hair Cortisol as a Biomarker of Chronic Stress in Community-Dwelling Adults With Longstanding Multiple Sclerosis.Western journal of nursing research · 2026Article
- Association between CT-based adrenal gland volume and 10-year cardiovascular disease risk in patients with diabetes mellitus.Quantitative imaging in medicine and surgery · 2026Article
- Non-traditional risk factors for myocardial infarction in adults under forty: A systematic review of emerging trends.World journal of cardiology · 2026Article
- Impact of exam stress and time of day on hand grip fatigue in medical students.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- The impact of camouflaging autistic traits on psychological and physiological stress: a co-twin control study.Molecular autism · 2025Article
- The roles of exosomes in the pathogenesis and treatment of coronary heart disease with depression and/or anxiety.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2025Review
- The Potential of Hair Matrix for Biomarker Analysis in Schizophrenia.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- N-palmitoyl glycine mediates depression-associated atrial fibrillation via Man1a2-dependent autophagy and NRAP dysregulation.Europace : European pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac electrophysiology : journal of the working groups on cardiac pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac cellular electrophysiology of the European Society of Cardiology · 2025Article
- Age- and sex-specific differences in myocardial sympathetic tone and left ventricular remodeling following myocardial injury.Biology of sex differences · 2025Article
- Increased Hair Cortisol Levels Is Associated With Coronary Artery Calcification in Middle-Aged Women but Not in Men.Chronic stress (Thousand Oaks, Calif.)Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundStress is today a common feature of patients seeking medical care and a growing public health issue in society. A method has been developed to measure biological chronic stress by Hair Cortisol Concentrations (HCC). This biomarker, for chronic stress, captures information about cumulative cortisol levels over the course of several months. Long-term stress might be one of the factors contributing to the onset of cardiovascular conditions and also affecting different risk factors. The aim of this study was to analyse the association between Hair Cortisol Concentrations and previous cardiovascular diseases and cardiovascular risk factors.
methodsThe method of measuring chronic stress by Hair Cortisol Concentration was applied in a large Swedish national observational cross-sectional study. A population-based random sample of N = 4,821 Swedish middle-aged men and women was analysed for hair cortisol levels in relation to diagnosed previous cardiovascular diseases and biologically measured cardiovascular risk factors.
resultsLong-term stress, measured by hair cortisol, was significantly associated with the classical cardiovascular risk factors hypertension and high cholesterol, but not smoking. Those with elevated HCC levels also had a significantly increased pre-history of myocardial infarction, type 2 diabetes, atrial fibrillation and by-pass surgery, but not regarding stroke, angina pectoris or sleep apnoea. Higher HCC was significantly associated (p < 0.001) with Body mass index and waist circumference, but only for females. HCC was also associated with the risk markers leukocytes, and high-sensitivity CRP, indicating a possible linkage between HCC and inflammation and hypothetically also the bodily immune defense. No association was found between perceived stress and HCC.
conclusionsAn overall conclusion of our results is that health care should put more emphasis on patients reporting that they have been exposed to long term stress. Altogether, these analyses of Hair cortisol levels in a large middle-aged population show that chronically elevated cortisol levels represent a relevant and significant factor associated with cardiovascular diseases and classical cardiovascular risk factors.
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