Objective:To determine the feasibility of non-invasive evaluation of adrenal response in healthy prepubertal children by standardized exercise tests. Methods: On separate occasions, healthy prepubertal children performed a submaximal cycling test, a maximal cycling test, and a 20-m shuttle-run test. Salivary cortisol levels were determined before exercise, and 1 and 15 min after exercise. Results: Immediately after cessation of the cycling and shuttle-run tests, salivary cortisol levels remained unchanged or decreased. Fifteen minutes after the shuttle-run test, salivary cortisol levels increased signifi cantly. This increase in salivary cortisol levels was not observed 15 min after the cessation of the cycling tests. Conclusion:The results of this study demonstrate a different response in salivary cortisol levels after standardized cycling and running tests in prepubertal children. The increase in salivary cortisol levels found after a short standardized running test suggests that this may be a practical non-invasive method for evaluating adrenal response in healthy prepubertal children.

Our study demonstrates that children with asthma using a maintenance dose of inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) have an attenuated salivary cortisol response compared with healthy children.