. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2012 Dec 4.

Published in final edited form as: Schizophr Res. 2009 Sep 13;116(2-3):234–242. doi: 10.1016/j.schres.2009.08.013

Table 2.

Stress measurements, Area Under the Curve (AUC) of cortisol during the day, and AUC with respect to increase (AUCi) of cortisol awakening response in first-episode psychosis patients and controls

	Patients			Controls	Test and significance
	All (n=50)	<2 weeks of treatment (n=17)	>2 weeks of treatment (n=33)	(n=36)	Test and significance
Number of stressful life events	2.3±0.3	-	-	0.7±0.2	t=−4.8, df=1, 81, p<0.001
Number of stressful life events	-	2.1±0.5 ^*	2.4±0.3 ^*	0.7±0.2	F=10.3, df=2, 82, p<0.001
Perceived Stress Scale score	19.8±1.0	-	-	11.9±0.9	t=−5.4, df=1, 80, p<0.001
Perceived Stress Scale score	-	20.2±2.0 ^*	19.6±1.2 ^*	11.9±0.9	F=14.4, df=2, 81, p<0.001
Childhood trauma (% with at least one trauma)	85.7%	-	-	38.7%	χ²=17.5, p<0.001
Childhood trauma (% with at least one trauma)	-	92.3% ^*	82.8% ^*	38.7%	χ²=17.9, p<0.001
AUC (nmol h/l) cortisol during the day	90.6±7.2	-	-	74.5±4.0	t=−2.0, df=1, 82, p=0.055
AUC (nmol h/l) cortisol during the day	-	115.2±17.8 ^, ^*	77.1±4.1	74.5±4.0	F=7.1 df=2, 83, p=0.001
AUCi (nmol min/l) cortisol awakening response	134.8±36.9	-	-	245.7±40.5	t=2.0, df=1, 84, p=0.049
AUCi (nmol min/l) cortisol awakening response	-	119.8±93.1	142.6±30.4	245.7±40.5	F=2.0, df=2, 85, p=0.1

Bonferroni post-hoc analyses

p<0.05 vs controls

^**

p<0.05 vs patients with less or more than 2 weeks of antipsychotic treatment.