Dataset Information

Hair cortisol in relation to sociodemographic and lifestyle characteristics in a multiethnic US sample.

ABSTRACT: We investigated the feasibility of obtaining hair samples from men and women at community-based barbershops and hair salons for analysis of cortisol and assessed sociodemographic and lifestyle correlates of hair cortisol concentrations (HCCs). A total of 102 participants completed the study.Research staff interviewed participants using a structured questionnaire, and samples of hair were collected. HCCs were determined using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Age- and sex-adjusted linear regression models were used to evaluate the association of HCC with covariates.Analyses by race/ethnicity showed highest median HCC in blacks (12.5 [6.9-29.3]) pg/mg) followed by Hispanics (10.7 [5.8-14.9] pg/mg), whites (5.0 [3.8-10.8] pg/mg), and other participants (4.2 [3.3-15.7] pg/mg), P < .01. Current smokers had significantly higher median HCC (11.7 [8.8-18.9] pg/mg) compared with former smokers (4.6 [3.5-14.6] pg/mg) and those who had never smoked (6.9 [4.7-12.8] pg/mg), P = .04. After adjustment for age and sex, geometric mean HCC was 0.72 pg/mg lower in dyed hair compared with hair that was not dyed (? = -0.72, standard error = 0.30, 95% confidence interval, -1.29 to -0.15, P = .02).HCC can be assessed in community-based studies. Future HCC studies should consider cosmetic hair treatment, cigarette smoking, and the potential role of psychosocial stressors in the association between race/ethnicity and HCC.

SUBMITTER: Wosu AC

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4306631 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Hair cortisol in relation to sociodemographic and lifestyle characteristics in a multiethnic US sample.

Wosu Adaeze C AC Gelaye Bizu B Valdimarsdóttir Unnur U Kirschbaum Clemens C Stalder Tobias T Shields Alexandra E AE Williams Michelle A MA

Annals of epidemiology 20141128 2

<h4>Purpose</h4>We investigated the feasibility of obtaining hair samples from men and women at community-based barbershops and hair salons for analysis of cortisol and assessed sociodemographic and lifestyle correlates of hair cortisol concentrations (HCCs). A total of 102 participants completed the study.<h4>Methods</h4>Research staff interviewed participants using a structured questionnaire, and samples of hair were collected. HCCs were determined using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spect ...[more]

PMID: 25534254

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Project description:Many protocols have been developed to assess farm animal welfare. However, the validity of these protocols is still subject to debate. The present study aimed to compare nine welfare assessment protocols, namely: (1) Welfare Quality© (WQ), (2) a modified version of Welfare Quality (WQ Mod), which has a better discriminative power, (3) WelzijnsWijzer (Welfare Indicator; WW), (4) a new Welfare Monitor (WM), (5) Continue Welzijns Monitor (Continuous Welfare Monitor; CWM), (6) KoeKompas (Cow Compass; KK), (7) Cow Comfort Scoring System (CCSS), (8) Stall Standing Index (SSI) and (9) a Welfare Index (WI Tuyttens). In addition, a simple welfare estimation by veterinarians (Estimate vets, EV) was added. Rank correlation coefficients were calculated between each of the welfare assessment protocol scores and mean hair cortisol concentrations from 10 cows at 58 dairy farms spread over the Netherlands. Because it has been suggested that the hair cortisol level is related to stress, experienced over a long period of time, we expected a negative correlation between cortisol and the result of the welfare protocol scores. Only the simple welfare estimation by veterinarians (EV) (ρ = -0.28) had a poor, but significant, negative correlation with hair cortisol. This correlations, however, failed to reach significance after correction of p-values for multiple correlations. Most of the results of the different welfare assessment protocols had a poor, fair or strong positive correlation with each other, supporting the notion that they measure something similar. Additional analyses revealed that the modified Welfare Quality protocol parameters housing (ρ = -0.30), the new Welfare Monitor (WM) parameter health (ρ = -0.33), and milk yield (ρ = -0.33) showed negative correlations with cortisol. We conclude that because only five out of all the parameter scores from the welfare assessment protocols showed a negative, albeit weak, correlation with cortisol, hair cortisol levels may not provide a long term indicator for stress in dairy cattle, or alternatively, that the protocols might not yield valid indices for cow welfare.

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Project description:This study aimed to identify Brazilian dietary patterns and their associations with health, lifestyle and sociodemographic characteristics. Data from the Brazilian National Health Survey conducted in 2013 were used. A questionnaire was applied containing 22 items related to dietary consumption. Dietary patterns were determined through factor analysis (FA). Poisson regression models, with robust variance, were used to identify associations between dietary patterns and independents variables. Statistical significance was defined as p-value<0.05. Data were analysed for 60,202 adults (estimated population size: 146,308,458). FA identified three dietary patterns: healthy, protein, and western. The younger age group (18-24 years) had a lower adherence to the healthy pattern (PR:0.53; 95%CI:0.49-0.58) and greater adherence to the protein (PR:1.52; 95%CI:1.42-1.62) and western (PR:1.80; 95%CI:1.68-1.93) patterns compared to the elderly (?60 years). Women had a greater association with the healthy pattern (PR:1.32; 95%CI:1.28-1.38) and lower association with the protein pattern (PR:0.80; 95%CI:0.77-0.82) compared to men. Illiterate participants showed lower adherence to the healthy (PR:0.58; 95%CI:0.53-0.63) and western (PR:0.54; 95%CI:0.48-0.62) patterns compared to those with higher educational levels. Smokers had lower adherence to the healthy (PR:0.76; 95%CI:0.71-0.81) and higher adherence to the protein (PR:1.14; 95%CI:1.11-1.19) patterns compared to non-smokers. Participants with poor/very poor self-rated health status had a lower adherence to the healthy (PR:0.79; 95%CI:0.73-0.86) and western (PR:0.81; 95%CI:0.73-0.89) patterns compared to those in a very good/good self-rated health status. Multimorbidity was positively associated with the healthy pattern (PR:1.18; 95%CI:1.11-1.26) and inversely associated with the protein pattern (PR:0.88; 95%CI:0.80-0.96) compared to participants without comorbidities. We suggest that strategies to promote healthy eating should consider health, lifestyle and sociodemographic characteristics in the Brazilian population.

Dataset Information

Hair cortisol in relation to sociodemographic and lifestyle characteristics in a multiethnic US sample.

Publications

Hair cortisol in relation to sociodemographic and lifestyle characteristics in a multiethnic US sample.

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