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Salivary markers of stress system activation and social withdrawal in humans

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 August 2021

S. Bauduin ,
E. Giltay ,
M. Van Noorden ,
S. Van Der Werff ,
M. Leeuw ,
A. Van Hemert  and
N. Van Der Wee
S. Bauduin*
Affiliation:
Department Of Psychiatry, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, Netherlands
E. Giltay
Affiliation:
Department Of Psychiatry, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, Netherlands
M. Van Noorden
Affiliation:
Department Of Psychiatry, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, Netherlands
S. Van Der Werff
Affiliation:
Department Of Psychiatry, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, Netherlands
M. Leeuw
Affiliation:
Department Of Psychiatry, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, Netherlands
A. Van Hemert
Affiliation:
Department Of Psychiatry, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, Netherlands
N. Van Der Wee
Affiliation:
Department Of Psychiatry, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, Netherlands
*
*Corresponding author.

Abstract

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Introduction

Social withdrawal is an early and common feature of psychiatric disorders. Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA)-axis activation through increased salivary cortisol (sC) and sympathetic activation through increased salivary alpha-amylase (sAA) may play a role.

Objectives

We aimed to study whether the link between increased sC and sAA on the one hand and depression on the other hand is mediated by social withdrawal.

Methods

In this cross-sectional, observational study, sC and sAA measures were measured in seven saliva samples in 843 participants (231 psychiatric patients and 612 healthy controls). Social withdrawal was assessed through the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI)-, the Short Form 36-, and the Dutch Dimensional Assessment of Personality Pathology social withdrawal subscales, and analyzed using linear regression and mediation analyses. On average, participants were 44.0 years old (SD=12.8; 64.1% female).

Results

Basal and diurnal sAA were unrelated to any social withdrawal scale and depression. Certain sC measures were positively associated with the BSI social withdrawal subscale (i.e., area under the curve with respect to the increase, beta=0.082, p=0.02; evening sC value: beta=0.110, p=0.003; and mean sC value: beta=0.097; p=0.01). We found limited support for statistical mediation by social withdrawal (measured using a composite social withdrawal score) on the relationship between evening sC and depression.

Conclusions

Thus, although we found no support for a role of basal and diurnal sAA in social withdrawal, HPA-axis activation may partly aggravate social withdrawal in depressive disorders.

Keywords

salivary alpha-amylasesalivary cortisolsocial withdrawal
Type
Abstract
Information
European Psychiatry , Volume 64 , Special Issue S1: Abstracts of the 29th European Congress of Psychiatry , April 2021 , pp. S341
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the European Psychiatric Association
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