“Abnormalities within hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis might interact with other neurobiological systems to enhance the risk of psychosis.”
“More knowledge about how various stress components interact can advance understanding of the link between psychosis and the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis.”
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“We examined 41 ultra high-risk patients and 40 antipsychotic-naïve first-episode schizophreniia patients and compared them with 47 matched controls. The Perceived Stress Scale and the Recent Life Events Questionnaire were used to assess the stress levels. Day-time saliva samples were taken to measure cortisol.”
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“Only the ultra high-risk patients, had a higher cortisol increase just after awakening compared to healthy controls.”
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“Symptom severity during the very early phase of illness ultra high-risk patients seems to be associated with altered cortisol increase. Longitudinal studies in ultra high-risk patients would be useful to examine how stress levels affect the course of the illness.”
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D.Nordholm, et al
Multiple measures of HPA axis function in ultra high risk and first-episode schizophrenia patients
Psychoneuroendocrinology — Volume 92 — June 2018