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Depressive symptomatology and cortisol concentrations in elderly community residents: a cross-sectional study

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Abstract

Background

Researches seek to understand the links between adverse health outcomes and cortisol concentrations. However, the relationship between depressive symptomatology and cortisol concentrations is controversial in the literature.

Aim

To analyze the relationship between the depressive symptomatology and the cortisol concentrations in elderly community residents in the Brazilian Northeast.

Methods

Cross-sectional study is composed of 256 elderly (≥65 years). Depressive symptomatology was evaluated by the Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale and cortisol concentrations by salivary collection (upon waking, 30 and 60 min after waking, at 3 pm and before bed), in addition to composite measurements. Sociodemographic and health conditions were evaluated. For analysis of the cortisol measurements in relation to depressive symptomatology, and between genders, the Student’s t test was used. For cortisol measurements in every curve, analysis of variance for repeated measurements with Bonferroni post hoc test was used.

Results

There were significant salivary cortisol differences upon awakening, among elderly with and without depressive symptomatology (p = 0.04). There was no significance in relation to gender. Between measurements of each curve, elderly with depressive symptomatology showed no significant difference between the 1st measure in relation to the 2nd and 3rd, and also between the 4th and 5th, demonstrating higher cortisol night levels in elderly with depressive symptomatology, without decline, with curve plane aspect.

Conclusion

The relationship between depressive symptomatology and hypocortisolism throughout the day seems to exist. However, in Brazil, adverse life conditions can lead to chronic stress and be sufficient factors to superpose biggest differences that could exist in relation to the presence of depressive symptomatology.

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Acknowledgments

We thank all the participants of this research and the physiotherapists who worked as interviewers during data collection. This work has been funded by the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico—CNPq) as project 474728/2009-9.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the Research Ethics Committee of the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, as part of a larger study called “Functional performance, load allostatic and biomarkers stress in the elderly residents in the community” (CEP/HUOL 481/10), in accordance with resolution 466/12 National Health Council and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed consent

Additional informed consent was obtained from all individual participants for whom identifying information is included in this article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Senador Salgado Filho Avenue, n 3000, Campus Universitário, Natal, RN, 59078-970, Brazil

    Mayle Andrade Moreira & Cristiano dos Santos Gomes

  2. Department of Physiotherapy, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, Brazil

    Ricardo Oliveira Guerra, Aline do Nascimento Falcão Freire & Álvaro Campos Cavalcanti Maciel

Authors
  1. Mayle Andrade Moreira
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  2. Ricardo Oliveira Guerra
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  3. Aline do Nascimento Falcão Freire
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  4. Cristiano dos Santos Gomes
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  5. Álvaro Campos Cavalcanti Maciel
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Correspondence to Mayle Andrade Moreira.

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Moreira, M.A., Guerra, R.O., do Nascimento Falcão Freire, A. et al. Depressive symptomatology and cortisol concentrations in elderly community residents: a cross-sectional study. Aging Clin Exp Res 28, 131–137 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40520-015-0374-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40520-015-0374-8

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