Higher hair cortisol concentrations associated with shorter leukocyte telomere length in high-risk young adults.

ABSTRACT: Chronic stress is associated with accelerated biological aging as indexed by short age-adjusted leukocyte telomere length (LTL). Exploring links of biological stress responses with LTL has proved challenging due to the lack of biological measures of chronic psychological stress. Hair cortisol concentration (HCC) has emerged as a measure of chronic hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis activation, allowing the examination of relationships between aggregate cortisol concentrations over time and LTL. Our sample includes 92 participants (38% women, M_age = 26 ± 3.7 years) from a high-risk sample of young adults with previous residential care placements. Two cm hair was collected for HCC, reflecting approximately eight weeks of cortisol secretion. LTL was measured with quantitativ

SUBMITTER: Burgin D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9276815 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature