Lifetime exposure to violence and other life stressors and hair cortisol concentration in women

Abstract

Women are exposed to a variety of life stressors, particularly violence, during their lifetime which increases the risk of developing various psychiatric and somatic diseases, with the dysregulated secretion of cortisol as one potential biological mechanism. We examined the association between violence and other life stressors and hair cortisol concentration (HCC) in a population of urban women. We included 470 adult women (age = 21–86 years) attending the Cancer Detection Clinic in Iceland. The Life Stressor Checklist-Revised (LSC-R; 30-items) was used to assess exposure. HCC was measured with liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry. We used linear regression models to assess the association between life stressors and log-transformed HCC. The median HCC (pg/mg) in the study population was 4.9 (range 0.6–616.6). HCC was not associated with background covariates, including age (p = 0.868), education level (p = 0.824), marital status (p = 0.545), income (p = 0.363), occupation (p = 0.192), but associated with current smoking (p = 0.013). We noted a 3.3% (95% CI: 0.17–6.6%) associated increase in HCC per endorsed life stressor after adjusting for age and smoking, while non-violent life stressors were not associated with HCC. Per endorsed violence item, we observed a 10.2% (95% CI: 1.4–19.7%) associated increase in HCC after age and smoking adjustment. Women with lifetime exposure to both physical and sexual violence presented with higher HCC than unexposed women (p = 0.010), after age and smoking adjustment. Lifetime exposure to violence was associated with higher levels of HCC in a community sample of women. These findings need confirmation with prospective studies.

Keywords:

• Violence
• violence against women
• hair cortisol
• cortisol
• life stressor
• gender

Acknowledgments

We further wish to acknowledge the invaluable contribution of our research nurses (Elsa Björnsdóttir, Jóna Ellen Valdimarsdóttir, Þuríður Anna Guðnadóttir), other research staff (Hildur Guðný Ásgeirsdóttir, Hrafnhildur Eymundsdóttir, and Þórunn Guðmundsdóttir), and the participating women. .

Disclosure statement

The authors R. Lynch, T. Aspelund, M. Kormáksson, M. Flores-Torres, A. Hauksdóttir, F. Arnberg, C. Kirscbaum, and U. Valdimarsdóttir reported no biomedical financial interests or potential conflicts of interest. M. Lajous received and investigator-initiated non-restricted grant from AstraZeneca.

Additional information

Funding

Funding for data collection was supplied by a Grant of Excellence, Icelandic Research Fund (grant no. 163362-051) and an ERC Consolidator Grant (StressGene, grant no: 726413). Rebekka Lynch, M.D., is supported by a grant from the Icelandic Equality Fund (grant no. 1233-1232991), as well as EU Horizon2020 Grant (CoMorMent, grant no: 847776). The sponsors had no role in the interpretation of study results. The SAGA cohort pilot study was conducted in collaboration between the University of Iceland, the Icelandic Cancer Society, and deCODE Genetics. The study was also supported by multiple community/commercial grants, e.g. from Eirberg, Nova, Nói Síríus, Actavis, Landsbanki Community Fund, Arion Bank’s Staff Association, The Tinnitus Foundation, and Landspitali.