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Central adiposity and cortisol responses to waking in middle-aged men and women

International Journal of Obesity volume 28, pages 1168–1173 (2004)Cite this article

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Central obesity is associated with disturbances of hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenocortical (HPA) axis function. We investigated whether central adiposity indexed by waist/hip ratio is related to cortisol responses to waking and other measures of salivary cortisol over the working day.

PARTICIPANTS: In total, 89 men and 83 women aged 47–59 y recruited from the British civil service. All were members of the Whitehall II epidemiological cohort.

METHODS: Saliva samples were collected on waking, 30 min later, and then at 2-h intervals from 0800–0830 to 2200–2230. A strict procedure for excluding individuals who did not adhere to the sampling schedule was applied.

RESULTS: Waist/hip ratio in men was positively correlated with the cortisol response to waking (30 min—waking value) after adjusting for age, socioeconomic position, smoking status, alcohol consumption, time of waking, and cortisol level on waking (r=0.29, P=0.009). The cortisol response to waking was negatively related to high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol (r=−0.25) and positively with total/HDL cholesterol ratio (r=0.25). Associations between the decline in cortisol over the day and waist/hip ratio, HDL cholesterol and total/HDL cholesterol ratios were also significant. No associations were significant in women, and body mass index was unrelated to cortisol.

CONCLUSIONS: The cortisol response to waking is a dynamic indicator of HPA function that has previously been related to chronic psychological stress. These results confirm a recent Swedish study, and indicate that cortisol responses to waking may be indicative of neuroendocrine disturbance in central obesity.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the Medical Research Council, UK. We are grateful to Gonneke Willemsen, Pamela J Feldman, Natalie Owen and Bev Murray for their participation in data collection, and to Clemens Kirschbaum from the Technical University Dresden for analysing the cortisol samples.

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  1. Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London, London, UK

    A Steptoe, S R Kunz-Ebrecht, L Brydon & J Wardle

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Correspondence to A Steptoe.

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Steptoe, A., Kunz-Ebrecht, S., Brydon, L. et al. Central adiposity and cortisol responses to waking in middle-aged men and women. Int J Obes 28, 1168–1173 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ijo.0802715

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