Relationship between hair cortisol concentrations and depressive symptoms in patients with coronary artery disease

Yekta Dowlati^1,3, Nathan Herrmann^2,3, Walter Swardfager^1,3, Steven Thomson⁴, Paul I Oh^3,5, Stan Van Uum⁴, Gideon Koren^1,4, Krista L Lanctôt^1,2,3,5

¹Departments of Pharmacology and Toxicology and ²Psychiatry, University of Toronto; ³Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, ⁴Department of Medicine, University of Western Ontario; ⁵Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, Ontario, Canada

Objective: Concentrations of cortisol in hair, a novel marker of longer-term cortisol status, were compared in depressed versus nondepressed patients with coronary artery disease (CAD).

Methods: 20 mg hair samples of 3 cm length were collected from 121 patients attending a cardiac rehabilitation program, 34 of whom suffered from depressive symptoms.

Results: Controlling for age, gender, coronary artery bypass grafting, history of depression, and time since most recent acute coronary syndrome, cortisol concentrations (P = 0.162) did not predict severity of depression. Younger age (P = 0.003) was a significant predictor of depressive symptoms. Perceived stress was not associated with long-term cortisol concentrations (P = 0.161).

Conclusions: Cortisol concentrations in hair do not predict depressive symptoms in CAD patients attending cardiac rehabilitation.

Keywords: cortisol, depression, hair, coronary artery disease