Verbal performance during stress in healthy older people: Influence of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and cortisol reactivity

Vanesa Hidalgo; Mercedes Almela; Carolina Villada; Leander van der Meij; Alicia Salvador

doi:10.1016/j.biopsycho.2019.107786

Verbal performance during stress in healthy older people: Influence of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and cortisol reactivity

Biol Psychol. 2020 Jan:149:107786. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2019.107786. Epub 2019 Oct 19.

Authors

Vanesa Hidalgo¹, Mercedes Almela², Carolina Villada³, Leander van der Meij⁴, Alicia Salvador⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology and Sociology, Area of Psychobiology, University of Zaragoza, Teruel, Spain; Aragon Health Research Institute, Zaragoza, Spain; Laboratory of Social Cognitive Neuroscience, IDOCAL, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain. Electronic address: vhidalgo@unizar.es.
² Health Department, Valencian International University (VIU), Valencia, Spain.
³ Laboratory of Psychophysiology, Department of Behavioral and Cognitive Neurobiology, Institute of Neurobiology, UNAM, Querétaro, Mexico.
⁴ Department of Industrial Engineering, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, the Netherlands.
⁵ Laboratory of Social Cognitive Neuroscience, IDOCAL, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain.

PMID: 31639406
DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2019.107786

Abstract

The impact of stress on the dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) response in older population is understudied. This study investigated, in healthy older people, whether the DHEA and cortisol responses to the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) was related to performance on this task. Both speech (rated by committee and self-rated) and arithmetic (number of mistakes) performance were assessed. Sixty-five participants (55-77 years old) were exposed to the TSST. Increases in negative affect, state anxiety, and cortisol levels could be observed, but there were no significant changes in positive affect or DHEA levels. Interestingly, a larger DHEA response was related to better verbal performance after controlling for the cortisol's reactivity. No relationships were found between hormonal responses and the arithmetic task performance. Our results suggest that, in healthy older people, an increase in DHEA levels in response to acute psychosocial stress may help them to cope with this stressor by increasing verbal performance.

Keywords: Acute stress; Cortisol; DHEA; Older people; Performance; TSST.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adaptation, Psychological / physiology*
Aged
Dehydroepiandrosterone / metabolism*
Female
Healthy Volunteers
Humans
Hydrocortisone / metabolism*
Male
Middle Aged
Saliva / chemistry
Stress, Psychological / metabolism*
Stress, Psychological / psychology
Task Performance and Analysis
Verbal Behavior / physiology*

Substances

Dehydroepiandrosterone
Hydrocortisone