Related Experiment Video

Updated: Aug 14, 2026

Collecting Hair Samples for Hair Cortisol Analysis in African Americans
06:01

Collecting Hair Samples for Hair Cortisol Analysis in African Americans

Published on: June 10, 2018

Increased Hair Cortisol Levels Is Associated With Coronary Artery Calcification in Middle-Aged Women but Not in Men

Fredrik Iredahl1,2, Elvar Theodorsson3, Tomas Faresjö4

  • 1Primary Health Care Center Åby, Department of Health, Medicine and Caring Sciences, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden.

Chronic Stress (Thousand Oaks, Calif.)
|August 13, 2026
PubMed

Insights

Chronic stress, measured by hair cortisol levels, is linked to coronary artery calcification (CAC) in middle-aged women. This finding highlights a potential biomarker for cardiovascular risk in women.

Area of Science:

  • Cardiology
  • Endocrinology
  • Public Health

Background:

  • Chronic stress is associated with cardiovascular diseases but not coronary artery calcification (CAC).
  • Hair cortisol concentration (HCC) is a biomarker for chronic stress.
  • Atherosclerosis, indicated by CAC, is a major cause of death, with prevalence increasing by age 65.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the association between elevated hair cortisol levels and CAC in middle-aged individuals, with a specific focus on women.
  • To determine the relative significance of HCC for CAC compared to established cardiovascular risk factors.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of hair samples, cardiac computed tomography data, health questionnaires, and anthropometric measures from 4821 men and women aged 50-65.
  • Measurement of hair cortisol levels using competitive radioimmunoassay.
  • Application of correlation, descriptive, regression, and path analyses.

Main Results:

  • A significant association was found between high hair cortisol concentration (HCC) and high coronary artery calcification (CAC) scores in women (p=0.007).
  • HCC was directly associated with higher CAC scores in women, similar to other classical cardiovascular risk factors.
  • No significant association between HCC and CAC was observed in men.

Conclusions:

  • Coronary artery calcification in middle-aged women is significantly associated with higher hair cortisol levels.
  • This association was not found in men, suggesting a potential sex-specific relationship between chronic stress and coronary atherosclerosis.
Abstract

Keywords:
cardiovascular risk factorschronic stresscoronary artery calcificationcortisolpopulation-based studysex

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