Adverse childhood experiences and diurnal cortisol pattern and heart rate variability in adults

Abstract

Dysregulation of hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis (HPA axis) and of the autonomic nervous system may link stress throughout the life course with poorer health. This study aims to investigate whether multiple adverse childhood experiences have a long-term impact on markers of these systems - cortisol secretion and heart rate variability - in adulthood. Data were from the Whitehall II cohort study. Fourteen adversities, collected retrospectively in midlife, were considered. Outcomes were total amount of cortisol secretion during the day (area under the curve [AUC]), cortisol awakening response (CAR), and diurnal slope, estimated from six saliva samples taken on a weekday; and resting heart rate (rHR) and heart rate variability (HRV) measured for five minutes at three time points over 10 years with the last measures taken at the same time as the salivary measurement. Regression models were used to examine the association of adversities with AUC, CAR, rHR and HRV and multilevel modelling was applied to analyses of cortisol diurnal slope and the 10-year follow-up of rHR and HRV. At least one early life adversity was reported by 68 % of participants. There was little evidence that increasing number of adversities was associated with any measures of cortisol, rHR or HRV or 10-year change in rHR or HRV. Of the individual adversities, only parental death was associated with increased AUC and CAR. In conclusion, although the HPA axis and autonomic nervous system have been hypothesized as mechanisms relating to adverse childhood experiences with health, our study finds no evidence to support this.