Hair Cortisone Predicts Metabolic Syndrome in Young Adults

TOPLINE:

Long-term biological stress, measured using hair glucocorticoid levels, was strongly associated with the presence of metabolic syndrome (MetS) and its components such as waist circumference and triglycerides, with the association being particularly pronounced in younger adults for hair cortisone levels.

METHODOLOGY:

• Researchers in the Netherlands conducted a cross-sectional study to investigate the relationship between hair glucocorticoid levels and the presence of MetS and its components in 1405 adult participants (median age, 49 years; 73.6% women) from the Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety cohort.
• Levels of hair glucocorticoids (cortisol and cortisone) were measured using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry.
• Outcomes were the presence of MetS and its individual components that included high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, fasting glucose, and triglyceride levels; diastolic blood pressure; and waist circumference.
• This study also assessed whether age (≤ 49 vs ≥ 50 years) modified the relationship between hair glucocorticoids and MetS.

TAKEAWAY:

• Hair cortisol (odds ratio [OR], 1.27) and cortisone (OR, 1.32; P < .001 for both) levels were strongly associated with MetS, with the association between hair cortisone and MetS being significantly modified by age (OR, 0.78; P = .003).
• The link between hair glucocorticoids and MetS was stronger in younger participants than in older ones for both hair cortisol (OR, 1.52 vs 1.20) and hair cortisone (OR, 1.95 vs 1.14).
• Hair cortisol and cortisone levels were positively correlated with waist circumference (P < .001 for both) and triglyceride levels (P < .025 for both); hair cortisol, but not cortisone, levels were also positively associated with diastolic blood pressure (P = .034) and negatively associated with high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels (P = .035).

IN PRACTICE:

“In the future, [the study] findings can be used to identify individuals with increased cardiovascular risk,” the authors wrote.

SOURCE:

This study was led by Susanne Kuckuck, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, Rotterdam, the Netherlands. It was published online on June 03, 2025, in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

LIMITATIONS:

The study population was predominantly Caucasian, which limited the generalisability of the findings to other populations and ethnic minorities. Information on diet was not collected; hence, the potential influence of nutritional factors on glucocorticoid metabolism could not be assessed. This study could not show whether elevated hair glucocorticoid levels caused MetS due to its cross-sectional design.

DISCLOSURES:

This study was supported by Stress in Action, a research project financially supported by the Dutch Research Council and the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. The authors declared having no conflicts of interest.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.