Is correlation between plasma and salivary cortisol levels practically important indicator for stress? A meta-analysis study
Correlation between plasma and salivary cortisol levels
Keywords:
Stress, Salivary Cortisol, Plasma Cortisol, Meta-analysis
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to examine practical importance of correlation values between plasma and salivary cortisol levels by meta-analysis study. By this way, researchers focusing on cortisol levels in different individuals to decide about their stress situation can use more systemic, practical and reliable evidence than using just salivary or plasma cortisol levels separately. For this purpose, correlational studies from 2000 to up-to-date were collected and they were analyzed by meta-analysis. Results based on 18 effect sizes (n=743) revealed that effect sizes of the correlations between plasma and salivary cortisol levels represented large effects. Overall combined effect size (Hedges’s=1.55) also represented large effect. This finding indicate a practical importance of the correlation values for stress studies. Use of the correlation values for examining cortisol levels in stress studies will be discussed in detail.
References
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2. Lee MY. The Effects of Stress on Happiness in University Students-Moderating Effects of Family Healthiness. The Journal of the Korea Contents Association 2019; 19(3): 557-565. https://doi.org/10.5392/JKCA.2019.19.03.557
3. Thorsteinsson EB, Brown RF, Owens MT. Modeling the effects of stress, anxiety, and depression on rumination, sleep, and fatigue in a nonclinical sample. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 2019; 207(5): 355-359. https://doi.org/10.1097/NMD.0000000000000973
4.Almela M, Hidalgo V, Villada C, et al. The impact of cortisol reactivity to acute stress on memory: Sex differences in middle-aged people. Stress 2011; 14(2): 117-127. https://doi.org/10.3109/10253890.2010.514671
5.Hammen C, Kim EY, Eberhart NK, et al. Chronic and acute stress and the prediction of major depression in women. Depress Anxiety 2009; 26:718–723. https://doi.org/10.1002/da.20571
6.Singh A, Petrides JS, Gold PW, et al. Differential hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis reactivity to psychological and physical stress. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism 1999; 84(6): 1944-1948. https://doi.org/10.1210/jcem.84.6.5746
7.Altemus M, Roca C, Galliven E, et al. Increased vasopressin and adrenocorticotropin responses to stress in the midluteal phase of the menstrual cycle. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism 2001; 86(6): 2525-2530. https://doi.org/10.1210/jcem.86.6.7596
8. Hellhammer DH, Wüst S, Kudielka BM. Salivary cortisol as a biomarker in stress research. Psychoneuroendocrinology 2009; 34(2): 163-171. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2008.10.026
9.Asbrand J, Heinrichs N, Nitschke K, et al. Repeated stress leads to enhanced cortisol stress response in child social anxiety disorder but this effect can be prevented with CBT. Psychoneuroendocrinology 2019; 109: 104352. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2019.06.003
10.Dickerson SS, Gruenewald TL, Kemeny ME. When the social self is threatened: Shame, physiology, and health. Journal of Personality 2004; 72(6): 1191-1216. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6494.2004.00295.x
*11.Crewther BT, Obmiński Z, Orysiak J, et al. The utility of salivary testosterone and cortisol concentration measures for assessing the stress responses of junior athletes during a sporting competition. Journal of Clinical Laboratory Analysis, 2018; 32(1): e22197. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcla.22197
*12.Maas C, Ringwald C, Weber K, et al. Relationship of salivary and plasma cortisol levels in preterm infants: results of a prospective observational study and systematic review of the literature. Neonatology 2014; 105(4): 312-318. https://doi.org/10.1159/000357555
13.Törnhage CJ. Salivary cortisol for assessment of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis function. Neuroimmunomodulation 2009; 16(5): 284-289. https://doi.org/10.1159/000216186
*14.Van Bruggen MD, Hackney AC, McMurray RG, et al. The relationship between serum and salivary cortisol levels in response to different intensities of exercise. International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance 2011; 6: 396-407. https://doi.org10.1123/ijspp.6.3.396
15.Cooper H, Hedges LV, Valentine JC. The handbook of research synthesis and meta-analysis (2nd edition). New York: Russell Sage Publication. 2009
*16. Ng SM, Drury J, Upradrasta S, et al. Correlation of Plasma and Salivary Cortisol in Extremely Premature Infants. Journal of Neonatal Biology 2017; 6(260): 2167-0897. https://doi.org/ 10.4172/2167-0897.1000260
*17.Calixto C, Martinez FE, Jorge SM, et al. Correlation between plasma and salivary cortisol levels in preterm infants. The Journal of Pediatrics 2002;140(1): 116-118. https://doi.org/10.1067/mpd.2002.120765
*18.Bhagwagar Z, Hafizi S, Cowen P. Acute citalopram administration produces correlated increases in plasma and salivary cortisol. Psychopharmacology 2002; 163(1): 118-120. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-002-1149-4
*19.Galbois A, Rudler M, Massard J, et al. Assessment of adrenal function in cirrhotic patients: salivary cortisol should be preferred. Journal of Hepatology, 2010; 52(6): 839-845. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhep.2010.01.026
*20.Wedekind D, Bandelow B, Broocks A, et al. Salivary, total plasma and plasma free cortisol in panic disorder. Journal of Neural Transmission, 2000; 107(7): 831-837. https://doi.org/10.1007/s007020070062
*21.Jung C, Greco S, Nguyen HH, et al. Plasma, salivary and urinary cortisol levels following physiological and stress doses of hydrocortisone in normal volunteers. BMC Endocrine Disorders 2014; 14(1): 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1186/1472-6823-14-91
*22.Petrowski K, Wintermann GB, Schaarschmidt M, et al. Blunted salivary and plasma cortisol response in patients with panic disorder under psychosocial stress. International Journal of Psychophysiology 2013; 88(1): 35-39. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2013.01.002
*23.Lippi G. De Vita F, Salvagno GL, et al. Measurement of morning saliva cortisol in athletes. Clinical Biochemistry 2009; 42(9): 904-906. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clinbiochem.2009.02.012
*24.Cadore E, Lhullier F, Brentano M, et al. Correlations between serum and salivary hormonal concentrations in response to resistance exercise. Journal of Sports Sciences 2008; 26(10): 1067-1072. https://doi.org/10.1080/02640410801919526
*25.Rantonen PJ, Penttilä I, Meurman JH, et al. Growth hormone and cortisol in serum and saliva. Acta Odontologica Scandinavica 2000; 58(6): 299-303. https://doi.org/10.1080/00016350050217163
*26.Westermann J, Demir A, Herbst V. Determination of cortisol in saliva and serum by a luminescence-enhanced enzyme immunoassay. Clinical Laboratory 2004; 50(1-2): 11-24. https://doi.org/Clin.Lab.2004;50;11-24
*27.Matsukura T, Kawai M, Marumo C, et al. Diagnostic value of salivary cortisol in the CRH stimulation test in premature infants. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism 2012; 97(3): 890-896. https://doi.org/10.1210/jc.2011-1814
28.Borenstein M, Hedges LV, Higgins JPT, et al. Introduction to meta-analysis. West Sussex-UK: John Wiley & Sons Ltd. 2009.
29.Ellis PD. The essential guide to effect sizes: Statistical power, meta-analysis, and the interpretation of research results. Cambridge University Press.2010.
30.Hardy RJ, Thompson SG. Detecting and describing heterogeneity in meta-analysis. Statistics in Medicine 1998; 17(8): 841-856. https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1097-0258(19980430)17:8<841::AID-SIM781>3.0.CO;2-D
31.Lovakov A, Agadullina E. Empirically derived guidelines for interpreting effect size in social psychology. (2017, November 27). https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/2epc4
Published
2025/12/22
Section
Originalni rad / Original article