Elevated salivary cortisol in the evening in healthy elderly men and women: correlation with bone mineral density. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci 1999 Sep;54(9):M479-83
Date
10/28/1999Pubmed ID
10536652DOI
10.1093/gerona/54.9.m479Scopus ID
2-s2.0-0032858514 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site) 100 CitationsAbstract
BACKGROUND: Aging is associated with a loss of bone mineral density (BMD) in men and women. Loss of BMD can also be caused by hypercortisolemia in men or women at any age. This study measured salivary cortisol at 2300 h and 0700 h as indices of cortisol secretory activity in 228 elderly, community-dwelling subjects. Salivary cortisol results were correlated with BMD. We hypothesized that salivary cortisol is elevated at 2300 h in elderly people, and that salivary cortisol will correlate negatively with BMD.
METHODS: Saliva was sampled at 2300 h (nadir in circadian rhythm) and 0700 h (peak in circadian rhythm) in 130 men (70.7 +/- 0.4 years old) and 98 women (70.0 +/- 0.4 years old); approximately half of the women were receiving hormone replacement therapy (HRT). BMD was measured by dual energy x-ray absorptiometry.
RESULTS: Salivary cortisol at 2300 h was significantly elevated in men (2.3 +/- 0.1 nmol/L) and women (2.1 +/- 0.1 nmol/L) as compared to 73 younger controls (1.2 +/- 0.1 nmol/L; 37 +/- 1 year old). Salivary cortisol at 0700 h was not different between older subjects and younger controls. There was a significant negative correlation of lumbar (L2-4) BMD and 2300 h salivary cortisol in older women (r = -0.20, p = .05; n = 98); this correlation was significant only in women not on HRT. There was a highly significant negative correlation of lumbar (L2-4) BMD and 0700 h salivary cortisol in older men (r = -0.31, p = .0003).
CONCLUSIONS: Salivary cortisol is a simple, nonstressful method for assessing activity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis in the elderly population. A major finding was an elevation in the late night nadir in cortisol secretion. We also suggest that elevated cortisol secretion in elderly people may contribute to the age-related loss in bone mineral density and that this effect is prevented by HRT.
Author List
Raff H, Raff JL, Duthie EH, Wilson CR, Sasse EA, Rudman I, Mattson DAuthors
Edmund H. Duthie MD Professor in the Medicine department at Medical College of WisconsinHershel Raff PhD Professor in the Academic Affairs department at Medical College of Wisconsin
MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold
AgedBody Composition
Bone Density
Circadian Rhythm
Female
Humans
Hydrocortisone
Male
Reference Values
Saliva
