Salivary cortisone strongly correlates with serum cortisol, and since it is less invasive to measure salivary cortisone than serum cortisol and easier than to measure cortisol in saliva, as its concentrations are much lower, we wanted to compare salivary cortisone and cortisol levels as markers of noise-induced stress reaction. The study included 104 participants aged 19-30 years, 50 of whom were exposed to occupational noise ≥85 dB(A) and 54 non-exposed, control students. All participants took samples of their saliva with Salivette® Cortisol synthetic swabs on three consecutive working days first thing in the morning. Salivary cortisone and cortisol levels were determined with high-performance liquid chromatography. In addition, they completed a 10-item Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) questionnaire, and occupationally noise-exposed participants also completed the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) questionnaire on occupational psychosocial risks. The exposed participants had significantly higher cortisone (P<0.001) and cortisol (P<0.001) levels than controls, and the correlation between cortisone and cortisol levels in the exposed participants was strong (ϱ =0.692, P<0.001), which suggests that salivary cortisone can replace cortisol measurements in saliva as a more reliable method than salivary cortisol and less invasive than serum cortisol. However, the level of perceived stress scored on PSS-10 in the exposed participants did not differ significantly from stress reported by controls, but correlated negatively with cortisone levels, which is contrary to our expectations and raises questions as to why.
Kortizon u slini snažno je povezan sa serumskim kortizolom, a kako je manje invazivno mjeriti kortizon u slini nego serumski kortizol te ga je lakše mjeriti nego kortizol u slini jer su mu koncentracije niske, htjeli smo usporediti koncentracije kortizona i kortizola kao biljega stresne reakcije izazvane bukom. U istraživanju su sudjelovala 104 ispitanika u dobi od 19 do 30 godina, od kojih je 50 izloženo buci ≥85 dB(A) na radnome mjestu, a 54 su neizloženi kontrolni studenti. Svi su sudionici prouzročili svoju slinu sintetičkim nosačima Salivette® Cortisol tijekom triju uzastopnih radnih dana, odmah nakon jutarnjeg buđenja. Koncentracije kortizona i kortizola u slini bile su određene tekućinskom kromatografijom visoke djelotvornosti. Također, sudionici su ispunili Ljestvicu doživljenog stresa (PSS-10), a izloženi i upitnik Health and Safety Executive (HSE) o psihosocijalnim rizicima na radnome mjestu. Izloženi sudionici imali su značajno više koncentracije kortizona (P<0,001) i kortizola (P<0,001) nego kontrolni, te je korelacija između koncentracija kortizona i kortizola u izloženih sudionika bila jaka (ϱ=0,692, P<0,001), što upućuje na to da određivanje kortizona u slini može zamijeniti određivanje kortizola u slini, i to kao pouzdanija metoda od određivanja kortizola u slini te kao manje invazivna od određivanja serumskoga kortizola. Razina doživljenog stresa određena ljestvicom u izloženih sudionika nije se značajno razlikovala od razine stresa u kontrolnih sudionika, ali je bila negativno povezana s koncentracijama kortizona, što je suprotno našim očekivanjima te otvara nova pitanja.
Keywords: HPLC; cortisol; hearing loss; kortizol; nagluhost; psihosocijalni rizici; psychosocial risks.
© 2023 Roko Žaja et al., published by Sciendo.