Changes in hair cortisol in a New Zealand community sample during the Covid-19 pandemic

Elizabeth Broadbent; Urs Nater; Nadine Skoluda; Norina Gasteiger; Ru Jia; Trudie Chalder; Mikaela Law; Kavita Vedhara

doi:10.1016/j.cpnec.2024.100228

Changes in hair cortisol in a New Zealand community sample during the Covid-19 pandemic

Compr Psychoneuroendocrinol. 2024 Feb 15:17:100228. doi: 10.1016/j.cpnec.2024.100228. eCollection 2024 Feb.

Authors

Elizabeth Broadbent¹, Urs Nater², Nadine Skoluda², Norina Gasteiger^{1

3}, Ru Jia⁴, Trudie Chalder⁵, Mikaela Law¹, Kavita Vedhara⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychological Medicine, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland, New Zealand.
² University Research Platform "The Stress of Life (SOLE) - Processes and Mechanisms Underlying Everyday Life Stress", Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, University of Vienna, Liebiggasse 5, 1010, Vienna, Austria.
³ School of Health Sciences, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PL, UK.
⁴ Centre for Academic Primary Care, School of Medicine, University of Nottingham, UK.
⁵ Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, 16, De Crespigny Park, London, SE5 8AF, UK.
⁶ School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Tower Building, Cardiff, CF10 3AT, UK.

Abstract

Background: Evidence suggests that countries with higher Covid-19 infection rates experienced poorer mental health. This study examined whether hair cortisol reduced over time in New Zealand, a country that managed to eliminate the virus in the first year of the pandemic due to an initial strict lockdown.

Methods: A longitudinal cohort study assessed self-reported stress, anxiety and depression and collected hair samples that were analyzed for cortisol, across two waves in 2020. The sample consisted of 44 adults who each returned two 3 cm hair samples and completed self-reports. Hair cortisol was assessed per centimetre.

Results: Hair cortisol reduced over time (F (5, 99.126) = 10.15, p < .001, partial eta squared = 0.19), as did anxiety and depression. Higher hair cortisol was significantly associated with more negative life events reported at wave two (r = 0.30 segment 1, r = 0.34 segment 2, p < .05), but not anxiety or depression.

Conclusions: Strict virus control measures may not only reduce infection rates, but also reduce psychological distress, and hair cortisol over time.

Keywords: Cortisol; Covid-19; Stress.