HPA axis function and symptoms in adolescents at clinical high risk for schizophrenia

• Published in: Schizophrenia research Vol. 135; no. 1; pp. 170 - 174
• Main Authors: Corcoran, C.M, Smith, C, McLaughlin, D, Auther, A, Malaspina, D, Cornblatt, B
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 01.03.2012; Elsevier
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Biological and medical sciences; Child; Cohort Studies; Cortisol; Cross-Sectional Studies; Female; Humans; Hydrocortisone - metabolism; Male; Medical sciences; Neuropsychological Tests; Prodromal; Prodrome; Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Psychoses; Psychosis; Retrospective Studies; Risk; Risk Factors; Saliva - metabolism; Schizophrenia; Schizophrenia - complications; Schizophrenia - metabolism; Sex Factors; Statistics, Nonparametric; Psychosis; Schizophrenia; Risk; Prodrome; Cortisol; Prodromal; Human; Corticosteroid; High risk; Hypothalamohypophysoadrenal axis; Steroid hormone; Antiinflammatory agent; Hydrocortisone; Glucocorticoid; Symptomatology; Adrenal hormone; Adolescent; Risk factor
• ISSN: 0920-9964; 1573-2509
• DOI: 10.1016/j.schres.2011.11.035

Abstract Background Stress sensitivity and HPA axis activity may be relevant to the development and expression of psychotic disorders. Cortisol secretion has been associated with positive symptoms both in patients with psychotic disorders and in young people at clinical risk for psychosis. Herein, we aimed to replicate these findings, to determine which positive symptoms may be associated with cortisol levels, and to explore any associations with affective symptoms and impaired stress tolerance. Methods Thirty-one clinical high risk patients were evaluated in cross-section for associations between salivary cortisol levels upon clinic entry at 11 am, demographic variables, and clinical symptoms. Results Salivary cortisol levels were unrelated to medication exposure or demographics, except for higher levels in the ten females studied. Salivary cortisol bore no relationship to overall positive symptom severity but was associated with anxiety, as well as with suspiciousness and impaired stress tolerance, which were themselves highly intercorrelated. Conclusions Cortisol secretion in the context of a putative novel social situation (i.e. clinic entry) may be a biological correlate of suspiciousness, impaired stress tolerance and affective symptoms in individuals vulnerable to developing psychosis. These associations are consistent with findings from experience sampling studies in individuals at risk for psychosis as well as basic studies of animal models of schizophrenia.