Association of low hair cortisol and childhood trauma

K Hinkelmann; C Muhtz; L Dettenborn; A Agorastos; K Wingenfeld; C Spitzer; W Gao; C Kirschbaum; K Wiedemann; C Otte

doi:10.1055/s-0033-1353282

Association of low hair cortisol and childhood trauma

K Hinkelmann ¹, C Muhtz ¹, L Dettenborn ¹, A Agorastos ¹, K Wingenfeld ¹, C Spitzer ¹, W Gao ¹, C Kirschbaum ¹, K Wiedemann ¹, C Otte ¹

¹Dep. of Psychiatry, Charite, CBF, Berlin, Germany
²Dep. of Psychosomatic Medicine, UKE, Hamburg, Germany
³Dep. of Medical Psychology, UKE, Hamburg, Germany
⁴Dep. of Psychiatry, UKE, Hamburg, Germany
⁵Fachklinik Tiefenbrunn, Rosdorf, Germany
⁶Dep of Psychology, TU Dresden, Dresden, Germany

Abstract

Childhood trauma is associated with major depression and alterations of cortisol secretion and may thus be one important factor in the neurobiology of depression. We present, for the first time, the association between childhood trauma and cumulative cortisol secretion of the last three months as measured by hair analysis in depressed patients and healthy controls. We examined 43 depressed patients (27 women and 16 men, mean age 41.7 years ± 10.5) and 41 age- and sex- matched healthy subjects. Traumatic experiences in childhood were measured with the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ). We analyzed salivary cortisol at awakening, 12:00h, 16:00h and 22:00h on two consecutive days and hair cortisol. Neither hair cortisol nor salivary cortisol differed between patients and healthy individuals. Across groups, hair cortisol (p = 0.05) and salivary cortisol (p = 0.03) was significantly lower in subjects with childhood trauma compared to participants without childhood trauma. Furthermore, partial correlation analyses (adjusted for BMI) revealed a significant negative association of salivary cortisol area under the curve (AUC) values with CTQ sum score (r =-0.35, p < 0.01). We found a significant association of childhood trauma with lower long-term cortisol secretion as measured by hair cortisol and lower diurnal salivary cortisol across groups. Our results are compatible with a profound and lasting effect of childhood trauma on the HPA axis independent of current psychopathology.