Hair glucocorticoid levels decrease after multimodal inpatient treatment and predict therapy outcome in...

Area of Science:

• Endocrinology and stress research.
• Psychiatry and mental health.
• Biomarker analysis in clinical studies.

Background:

• Hair cortisol concentration (HCC) is a marker for chronic stress, a factor in burnout and depression.
• Existing research on HCC and stress interventions shows inconsistent results.
• The role of hair cortisone concentration (HCNC) alongside HCC requires further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate inconsistencies in hair cortisol concentration (HCC) findings.
• To explore the utility of hair cortisone concentration (HCNC) as a biomarker.
• To evaluate the impact of multimodal inpatient treatment on stress biomarkers and depression.

Main Methods:

• Compared 25 patients with burnout-related depression to 17 healthy controls.
• Measured hair cortisol concentration (HCC) and hair cortisone concentration (HCNC) at treatment start and end.
• Assessed burnout and depression severity, considering meteorological data and sick leave duration as covariates.

Main Results:

• No significant baseline differences in glucocorticoid levels between groups.
• Inpatient treatment decreased depression severity and hair glucocorticoid levels.
• Lower HCNC correlated with greater reduction in depression severity; meteorological data and sick leave also influenced hair glucocorticoid levels.

Conclusions:

• Multimodal inpatient treatment effectively reduces psychological and biological stress.
• Hair glucocorticoids (HCC and HCNC) are sensitive biomarkers for treatment evaluation and outcome prediction.
• Analyzing both HCC and HCNC offers a more comprehensive view of treatment effects than HCC alone.