Collecting Hair Samples for Hair Cortisol Analysis in African Americans.

ABSTRACT: The hormone cortisol is typically assessed in saliva, serum, or urine samples. More recently, cortisol has been successfully extracted from hair, including humans. The advantage of hair cortisol concentration is that it reflects a retrospective representation of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis function over time, much like hemoglobin A1C represents glycemic control. However, obtaining hair samples can be challenging, due to the cultural beliefs and hair care practices of minority participants. For example, African Americans may be reluctant to provide samples. Additionally, few researchers are trained to collect hair samples from African Americans. The purpose of this paper is to present a culturally informed protocol to help researchers obtain hair samples from African Americans

SUBMITTER: Wright KD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6101699 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature