Abstract
Background: Some studies suggest that cortisol may be under genetic control. The aims
of our study were to investigate the familial resemblance in morning and evening cortisol
secretion as assessed by saliva cortisol and to assess the influence of history of
major depression.
Methods: Women for this investigation were selected from an ongoing study in female–female
twin pairs ascertained from the Virginia Twin Registry. Telephone screening assured
that current inclusion/exclusion criteria were met. Subjects were asked to collect
am samples within 45 min after awakening, and evening samples immediately before bedtime
for 14 days.
Results: There was a high degree of correlation across weeks in both the am and pm cortisol values, indicating significant stability across individuals. There was significant
correlation between am and pm cortisol in monozygotic twins. In twins with a history of major depression (n = 30), compared with the twins without past major depression (n = 28), there was a trend towards higher cortisol (p = .056).
Conclusions: These results suggest that around 40–45% of the total variance in salivary
cortisol is shared by monozygotic twins. Although the increase in baseline cortisol
in twins with a history of major depression is only significant at the trend level,
the effect size is comparable to an “in episode” depressed population.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Accepted:
February 3,
2000
Received in revised form:
January 31,
2000
Received:
August 31,
1999
Identification
Copyright
© 2000 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
