Psychosocial Stress and HPA Functioning: No Evidence for a Reduced Resilience in Healthy Elderly Men

Abstract

In order to investigate if HPA functioning is altered with age, the present study was conducted. Fifteen healthy elderly men (60-76 years; mean age 66.5 +/- 1.48 yrs.) and 12 younger adults (20-29 years; mean age 25.6 +/- 0.77 yrs.) collected salivary free cortisol profiles after awakening for basal HPA activity. Then, all subjects were exposed to the "Trier Social Stress Test" (TSST). This psychosocial stress protocol consists of a free speech and a mental arithmetic task of 13 minutes duration performed in front of an audience. Beside the assessment of endocrine and cardiovascular responses to the stressful task ratings of depression, mood and perceived stressfulness were obtained. Results show that younger and elderly men had similar morning cortisol profiles after awakening with both groups showing the expected rise after awakening (P=0.004). The TSST induced significant increases in ACTH, total plasma cortisol, saliva free cortisol, and heart rates (all P<0.0001). Regardless of age, both age groups showed comparable endocrine response patterns when confronted with the stressor. However, cardiovascular responses were significantly higher in younger men compared to elderly men (P=0.03). Catecholamine data revealed significant norepinephrine and epinephrine increases due to the stressor (both P<0.0001) with a trend toward elevated norepinephrine levels in elderly men (P=0.058). In sum, the investigated basal and response parameters of HPA functioning neither support the idea of a reduced resilience in healthy aged humans nor do they appear to strengthen assumptions derived from the so called "glucocorticoid cascade hypothesis".

Clinical experimental stress studies: methods and assessment

“…However, there have been mixed reports regarding their association. The studies have described a significant association between an increase in cortisol (serum and salivary) and subjective stress in TSST (Jelicic et al, 2004;Simeon et al, 2007) and between ACTH increase and changes in mood (Kudielka et al, 2000). On the contrary, studies also report that peak serum cortisol responses could not be predicted from subjective anxiety during stress (Jones et al, 1997), and accordingly, no association between perceived stressfulness, changes in mood, and serum cortisol responses has been reported (Kirschbaum et al, 1995a;Lerner et al, 2007).…”

Fluoride bioavailability in saliva during acute psychological stress

“…In normal daily situations, the waking process, according to the biological mechanisms involved in reactions to stress, also induces a cortisol awakening response [8,9,[32][33][34][35] that can be detected by the 50% to 100% increase in wake-up salivary cortisol levels half an hour after waking [36]. A similar increase in cortisol levels can be experimentally simulated by public speaking [37]. The dry mouth feeling experienced in acute stress in situations, such as public speaking, is associated with changes in saliva, i.e., changes in protein composition and, consequently, changes in salivary properties [38].…”

Mood changes in response to psychosocial stress in healthy young women: Effects of pretreatment with cortisol.

“…Soravia et al (2006) observed in her placebo-treated phobic patients that a higher cortisol stress response was associated with a smaller increase in self-reported anxiety. Having said this, most studies with healthy nonpsychiatric subjects reported either no association between the cortisol response and changes in mood or a stronger decrease in mood in those subjects showing a more pronounced HPA stress response (e.g., Kudielka, Schmidt-Reinwald, Hellhammer, Schurmeyer, & Kirschbaum, 2000;von Känel et al, 2005).…”