Table 3.
Studies in adolescents and adults: associations between plasma cortisol and aggression-related psychiatric conditions.
| Condition | Cortisol measurement | Interaction | References | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Primary | Secondary | Single | Multiple | Diurnal rhythm | Daily production* | Awakening | Stress responses | ||
| UNR | AGG | X | ↓ | Yu and Shi, 2009 | |||||
| ALC | VIOL | X | ↓ | Bergman and Brismar, 1994 | |||||
| UNR | PP | X | ↓* | Glenn et al., 2011 | |||||
| SCH | AGG | X | ↓ | Strous et al., 2004 | |||||
| UNR | CU | X | ↓** | Fanti and Kimonis, 2017 | |||||
| UNR | AGG | X | ↓ | Victoroff et al., 2011 | |||||
| UNR | PP1 | X | ↓† | Vaillancourt and Sunderani, 2011 | |||||
| PSYCH | VIOL | X | X | ↓ | Das et al., 2018 | ||||
| APD | PP | X | → | Loomans et al., 2016 | |||||
| UNR | AGG | X | ↓* | Grotzinger et al., 2018 | |||||
| UNR | AGG | X | ↓‡ | Böhnke et al., 2010 | |||||
| UNR | AGG | X | ↓$ | Gordis et al., 2006 | |||||
| HERadd (ABST) | AGG | X | ↓‡ | Gerra et al., 2004 | |||||
| HERadd (METH) | AGG | X | ↓‡ | Gerra et al., 2001 | |||||
| APD | - | X | ↓€ | Almeida et al., 2010 | |||||
| UNR | EXT | X | ↓* | Portnoy et al., 2015 | |||||
| UNR | PP | X | ↓ | O'Leary et al., 2007 | |||||
| COCadd | AGG | X | ↓€ | Buydens-Branchey et al., 1997 | |||||
| PDE | AGG, EXT | X | ↓ | Buckingham-Howes et al., 2016 | |||||
Psychiatric/psychological conditions. ABST, abstinent at the time of the study; AGG, aggression; ALC, alcoholic; APD, antisocial personality disorder; CU, callous emotional traits, EXT, externalizing behavior; HERadd, heroin addiction; METH, on methadone at the time of the study; PDE, prenatal drug exposure; PP, psychopathic traits; PP1, psychopathy type 1; PSYCH, psychosis; SCH, schizophrenia; UNR, unreferred; VIOL, violence. Cortisol measurements. X, type of measurement performed; single, condition associated with a single cortisol measurement; multiple, condition associated with averaged multiple cortisol measurements; diurnal, condition associated with altered diurnal secretion rhythm; total, 24 h urinary cortisol or equivalent; awakening, diurnal increase in cortisol measured in the morning; stress response, stress response independent from aggression. Association with cortisol. ↓, condition associated with downregulated HPA-axis function; → , condition not associated with changes in HPA-axis function; ↑, condition associated with upregulated HPA-axis function;
association with testosterone/cortisol ratio;
association with externalizing and internalizing behaviors;
females only;
experimental provocation unrelated to aggressiveness;
interaction dependent on alpha amylase activity;
pharmacological challenge.