Hair cortisol reduction and social integration enhancement after a mindfulness-based intervention in children.

BACKGROUND: Over recent decades, chronic stress at an early age has become a worrying health problem in children. We seek to evaluate an intervention involving mindfulness-based practices and prosocial activities in 7- to 8-year-old children. METHODS: Stress levels were determined using hair cortisol concentration (HCC), and social integration was measured by means of a sociogram. The program had previously proven to be effective in decreasing salivary cortisol levels and in favouring social integration in children. A total of 35 children participated in the study: 18 constituted the intervention group and 17 the wait-list group. In both groups, HCC and social integration were evaluated before and after the intervention conducted throughout an entire school year. RESULTS: The experimental group showed a significant reduction in HCC, as well as significant enhancement of social integration levels, whereas no changes were observed in the wait-list group. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first research to show that HCC, a reliable neuroendocrine indicator, decreased as a result of a mindfulness-based program. This successful outcome adds new evidence to previous findings regarding the reduction of chronic stress in children following participation in this program.

Evaluation of stress, burnout and hair cortisol levels in health workers at a University Hospital during COVID-19 pandemic.

In the critical context of COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare workers are on the front line, participating directly in the care, diagnosis, and treatment of patients with COVID-19. This exposes them to a higher risk of developing chronic stress, psychological distress, and any other mental health symptoms. OBJECTIVE: to evaluate stress and burnout in a health workers population and, in addition, to measure hair cortisol concentration as a current biomarker of stress. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 234 health workers from Hospital de Clínicas "José de San Martín", Buenos Aires University, were included in this study. In this population hair samples were obtained from the posterior vertex as close to the scalp as possible and the individuals completed the following surveys: perceived stress, social support, burnout scale, life event scale, and sociodemographic data. Hair cortisol was measured by an automated chemiluminescent method. The studied population was divided into three groups considering those individuals below the healthy reference sample range (< 40 pg/mg hair), within the healthy reference range (40-128 pg/mg hair) and above the reference range (> 128 pg/mg hair). This study used a transversal and observational design. RESULTS: Our results show that 40% of the studied population presented hair cortisol values outside of the healthy reference range. In the whole studied population, a direct correlation was found between hair cortisol concentration and perceived stress as well as between hair cortisol concentration and the emotional exhaustion component of burnout (r = 0.142, p = 0.030; r = 0.143, p = 0.029, respectively). 12% of the studied population showed Burnout (52% doctors and residents, 19% nurses, 19% administrative personnel). Higher values in hair cortisol levels were found in the group with burnout versus individuals without burnout (p = 0.034). Finally, a mediation analysis was performed, finding that depersonalization is a mediating variable in the relationship between self-perceived stress and hair cortisol level (F = 4.86, p = 0.0086; indirect effect IC: 0.0987-1.8840). CONCLUSION: This is the first study in which a stress biomarker such as hair cortisol is evaluated in this population and in this context. Healthcare workers are subjected to increased levels of stress and burnout. High depersonalization, emotional exhaustion, and decreased personal sense of accomplishment characterize this population. It is the responsibility of the health authorities to implement strategies to manage this psychological emergency.

Hair Cortisol Measurement by an Automated Method.

We present the development of the first procedure for hair cortisol measurement through an automated method. Hair samples were obtained from 286 individuals. After cortisol extraction, samples were measured in a Siemens Immulite 2000 (Gwynedd, UK) automated chemoluminiscent immunoassay analyzer. Normal reference values were obtained from hair cortisol levels measured in 213 healthy individuals with low levels of stress. Hair cortisol concentration median was 55 pg/mg hair (2.5-97.5 percentile (40-128)) in healthy individuals with low levels of stress and 250 pg/mg hair (range 182-520) in stressed individuals. No significant differences were observed in hair cortisol levels between subjects with and without dye (40 (40-107) and 40 (40-155) pg/mg hair, respectively; p = 0.128). The novel procedure presented here shows an adequate analytical performance.