Affiliations: [a] INM, Univ Montpellier, INSERM, Montpellier, France
| [b] Center for Clinical Brain Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
| [c] Biological Neuropsychiatry Unit, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
Correspondence:
[*]
Correspondence to: Marie-Laure Ancelin, Institute for Neurosciences of Montpellier, Inserm U1298, Hopital Saint-Eloi, 80, rue Augustin Fliche, BP 74103, 34091 Montpellier Cedex 5, France. Tel.: +33 499 614 562; Fax: +33 499 614 579; E-mail: marie-laure.ancelin@inserm.fr.
Abstract: Diurnal salivary cortisol was measured in 334 older adults without dementia, at four times on two separate days, under quiet and stressful conditions. In multivariate Cox proportional hazard models, higher global diurnal cortisol secretion was associated with incident dementia (HR = 1.09 [1.02–1.15] per one-unit increase in cortisol measure, p = 0.007) and Alzheimer’s disease (HR = 1.12 [1.04–1.21], p = 0.003) over a mean (SD) of 8.1 (4.0) years, independent of potential confounders and stressful conditions. Individuals with incident dementia had a slower rate of cortisol elimination under non-stressful conditions, reflected by higher cortisol levels in the evening, and an abnormal response to stress (blunted evening stress response).
