Effects of Psychosocial stress on DHEA and DHEA-S levels - Acute and Long-term effects

摘要

Background: Long-term psychosocial stress can cause and contribute to awide range of psychological and somatic conditions, and accelerate aging.One of the consequences of long-term psychosocial stress may be a reductionin the levels of dehydroepiandrosterone and its sulphated metabolitedehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEA-S). The aim of this thesis was toinvestigate the effects of acute and long-term psychosocial stress on serumlevels of DHEA and DHEA-S in otherwise healthy men and women. Method:In Paper I, 39 healthy individuals went through a stress test (Trier socialstress test). Blood samples were collected before the stress test, immediatelyafter the stress test and after 30 minutes of recovery. Mixed between-withinANOVAs were used to investigate the responses of DHEA and DHEA-S.Thirty-six of the 39 participants in Paper I answered a questionnaireregarding long-term stress (perceived stress at work) and were included inPaper II. DHEA and DHEA-S response during acute stress were comparedbetween groups of individuals who reporting different levels of long-termstress (Low, Medium, High) using ANCOVA. The Low stress group, whichdid not experience any stress at work, was used as reference group. In PaperIII, morning DHEA-S and DHEA levels were measured in serum in 41stressed and 40 non-stressed individuals. The groups were defined based ontheir scores on the questionnaire measuring long-term stress (perceived stressat work). DHEA and DHEA-S levels were compared between the groupsusing ANCOVA. Results: While acute psychosocial stress increases thelevels of DHEA and DHEA-S temporarily (Paper I), long-term psychosocialstress is associated with reduced capacity to produce DHEA-S during acutestress (Paper II) and lower basal DHEA-S levels (Paper III). Conclusions:Considering the beneficial effects that DHEA and DHEA-S have and the factthat low DHEA and DHEA-S levels are associated with adverse health, thefindings of this thesis suggest that one of the links between long-term stressand adverse health could be that long-term stress reduces the capacity toproduce DHEA-S.