Diurnal cortisol profiles in autistic adolescents and young adults: Associations with social difficulties and internalizing mental health symptoms.

Autor: Ilen L; Clinical Psychology Unit for Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland., Delavari F; Developmental Imaging and Psychopathology Lab Research Unit, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland., Feller C; Clinical Psychology Unit for Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland., Zanoletti O; Behavioral Genetics laboratory, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland., Sandi C; Behavioral Genetics laboratory, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland., Schneider M; Clinical Psychology Unit for Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research [Autism Res] 2024 Aug; Vol. 17 (8), pp. 1601-1615. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Jul 08.
DOI: 10.1002/aur.3184
Abstrakt: Several autism-related characteristics, such as social difficulties, may contribute to high perceived stress and increased exposure to stressful life events in some autistic individuals. Repeated exposure to stress might lead to the dysfunction of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical-axis and be a vulnerability factor for developing mental health difficulties. Previous studies show contradictory findings on salivary cortisol in autism. In the current study, we investigated diurnal cortisol profiles in autistic adolescents and young adults, as well as their associations with social difficulties, stress exposure, and mental health symptoms. Autistic (n = 48, M age  = 17.6) and nonautistic (n = 51, M age  = 18.4) participants collected salivary cortisol at home six times a day for 2 days. Social difficulties, exposure to stressful life events/bullying, and mental health symptoms were assessed with questionnaires and clinical interviews. Similar diurnal cortisol slopes (DCS) and cortisol awakening responses were observed between the groups, but autistic participants showed higher total cortisol output (AUC G , area under the curve with respect to ground) during the day (b = 19.09, p = 0.009). In the autistic group, more severe social difficulties were associated with flatter DCS (b = 0.01, p = 0.007). Finally, cortisol alterations were associated with self-reported mental health symptoms, especially in autistic females in analyses uncorrected for multiple comparisons. In conclusion, our results do not indicate autism-related group-level alterations in most diurnal cortisol measures, but autistic youth showed higher total cortisol (AUC G ) compared with nonautistic peers. More detailed investigation of interindividual variability in cortisol profiles within autistic people might give us important insights into vulnerability to developing stress-related mental health difficulties.
(© 2024 The Author(s). Autism Research published by International Society for Autism Research and Wiley Periodicals LLC.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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