Cortisol, Stress and Diabetes: a Dangerous Relationship

Abstract

The human body secretes diabetogenic hormones such as cortisol in times of stress, a situation that is aggravated when there is already an undergoing pathology such as diabetes. Both stress and diabetes are important issues for public health, since each one puts the population’s quality of life at risk. This threatening scenario increases when both of them collude, becoming a dangerous combination that causes disease, a lack of metabolic control and early complications. This paper reviews the relationship between cortisol, stress, and diabetes, as well as how cortisol may function as a biological marker to reflect the activity of the corticotropic axis.