Stress may be reflected in your hair’s cortisol levels

Hair cortisol concentration (HCC) represents a potential biomarker of chronic psychological stress. Previous studies exploring the association between perceived stress and HCC have been limited to relatively small and selected populations.

A study was conducted on the hair samples from 881 women from the Mexican Teachers' Cohort (MTC) and 398 women from the Icelandic SAGA pilot cohort. MTC participants had slightly higher HCC and PSS scores than SAGA participants. After adjusting for sociodemographic factors and health behaviours, researchers observed a 1.4% increase in HCC for each unit increase in the Perceived Stress Scale-10 (PSS-10) score in the combined sample.

Furthermore, PSS-10 quintiles were associated with a 24.3% increase in HCC when comparing the highest to the lowest quintile after multivariable adjustment. Similar results were obtained when each cohort was analysed separately and using the PSS-4.

Despite relatively small absolute differences, an association between perceived stress and HCC was found in a sample of women from two diverse geographical and cultural backgrounds supporting the hypothesis that HCC is a viable biomarker in studies of chronic psychological stress.

Source: PLOS Global Public Health