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Published in: European Journal of Applied Physiology 7/2018

01-07-2018 | Original Article

Association of activity status and patterns with salivary cortisol: the population-based CoLaus study

Authors: Cédric Gubelmann, Christine Kuehner, Peter Vollenweider, Pedro Marques-Vidal

Published in: European Journal of Applied Physiology | Issue 7/2018

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Abstract

Purpose

Physical activity (PA) has been shown to influence salivary cortisol concentrations in small studies conducted among athletes. We assessed the association of activity status and patterns with salivary cortisol in the general population.

Methods

Cross-sectional study including 1948 adults (54.9% women, 45–86 years). PA and sedentary behaviour (SB) were measured for 14 days by accelerometry. Low PA and high SB status were defined, respectively, as the lowest and highest tertile of each behaviour. ‘Inactive’, ‘Weekend warrior’, and ‘Regularly active’ patterns were also defined. Four salivary cortisol samples were collected over a single day and the following parameters were calculated: area under the curve to ground (AUCg), awakening response (CAR) and diurnal slope.

Results

After multivariable adjustment, low SB remained associated to steeper slopes relative to high SB (− 1.54 ± 0.03 vs. − 1.44 ± 0.04 nmol/l per hour). Non-significant trends were found for high PA relative to low PA with steeper slopes (− 1.54 ± 0.03 vs. − 1.45 ± 0.04) and lower AUCg (208.7 ± 2.0 vs. 215.9 ± 2.9 nmol.h/l). Relative to ‘Inactives’, ‘Regularly actives’ had lower AUCg (205.4 ± 2.4 vs. 215.5 ± 2.9) and ‘Weekend warriors’ had steeper slopes (− 1.61 ± 0.05 vs. − 1.44 ± 0.04). No associations were found for CAR.

Conclusion

Low SB and high PA are related to lower cortisol secretion as measured by different parameters of salivary cortisol, but the effects were only modest.
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Literature
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Metadata
Title
Association of activity status and patterns with salivary cortisol: the population-based CoLaus study
Authors
Cédric Gubelmann
Christine Kuehner
Peter Vollenweider
Pedro Marques-Vidal
Publication date
01-07-2018
Publisher
Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Published in
European Journal of Applied Physiology / Issue 7/2018
Print ISSN: 1439-6319
Electronic ISSN: 1439-6327
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-018-3881-4

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