Determination of cortisol levels in plasma and saliva in women exposed to chronic stress

Abstract

Introduction: It is known fact from the literature data that acute and chronic stress influence serum cortisol level. As with serum cortisol, the level of cortisol in saliva is also a reliable marker of stress. Material and method: this study was performed on 25 individuals, females, age 40-50 years. The participants were exposed to long term stress, held two jobs of 8 working hours, six days a weak, domestic work was not included. All of them were high educated, and none of them were on other medication therapy Aim: The Aim of this study was to evaluate possible differences in cortisol levels in stimulated and non stimulated saliva and serum and determine their association with long term stress. Results: Obtained results showed that cortisol level in saliva do not depend on saliva flow rate and increases in the afternoon period in individuals exposed to chronic stress. Correlation (r) between salivary cortisol and plasma cortisol is r= 0.91. Non-invasive sampling procedure suggests that saliva may be used for cortisol measurements in situations where blood sampling is difficult to perform.