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Impaired serum cortisol stress response is a predictor of early relapse
K Junghanns1, J Backhaus, U Tietz
1Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Luebeck, Germany.
Aims:
to investigate a possible association of cortisol stress response during early abstention with relapse.
Methods:
Thirty-six alcohol-dependent males, half of them with a comorbid anxiety disorder, and 15 healthy controls were exposed to a standardized psychosocial stress test. Thirty-one of the patients were assessed for relapse 6 weeks after discharge.
Results:
The relapsers showed almost no cortisol responses in the stress test. Comorbid anxiety disorder influenced neither stress response nor relapse.
Conclusions:
During early abstention from alcohol, reduced stress-responsivity of the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenocortical axis seems to be connected to early relapse.