Long-term cortisol exposure and echocardiographic measures of cardiac structure and function
Authors' conclusion
Taken together, in this population-based study, these findings provide little evidence that HCC is associated with clinically meaningful differences in cardiac structure or function in generally healthy middle-aged adults.
Study context
- Population
- Individuals aged 50–64 years in Sweden
- Participants
- 3,005 individuals
- Exposure
- Hair cortisol concentration (HCC) in relation to 19 echocardiographic parameters reflecting cardiac morphology and function
- Outcome
- Three broad principal component analysis-derived cardiac phenotypes
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
- No significant association between HCC and three broad principal component analysis-derived cardiac phenotypes
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
| Outcome | β (SD per one-unit increase in log10-HCC) |
|---|---|
| Left Atrial End-Systolic Volume Index (LAESVI)Higher LAESVI with higher HCC · magnitude of this association was modest | 0.178 |
- Left Atrial End-Systolic Volume Index (LAESVI) — LAESVI higher across the IQR of HCC
- ≈0.734 mL/m²
- Left Atrial End-Systolic Volume Index (LAESVI) — Share of the cohort median
- ≈2.9%
- Left Atrial End-Systolic Volume Index (LAESVI): only measure showing a false discovery rate-adjusted significant association with HCC
19 individual echocardiographic measures
- Effect estimates were generally small and CIs largely included the null
Original publication
Long-term cortisol exposure and echocardiographic measures of cardiac structure and function. Heart. Published 7 October 2026. doi:10.
Composed by AI from the published abstract and checked against it. How Briefs are made →