The short-term impact of music interventions on stress: Results of a multinational cluster-randomized trial using salivary cortisol and alpha-amylase assessments in care home residents with dementia

This study used home self-collected saliva samples to successfully monitor cytokines and cortisol in mothers and infants, finding that a community singing intervention significantly reduced salivary interleukin-6 levels in mothers with postnatal depression.

Community singing intervention reduces maternal salivary cytokines and enhances maternal-infant cortisol synchrony in postnatal depression: biological findings from the SHAPER-PND trial — Kirkpatrick et al., Brain, behavior, and immunity (paywalled) · source ↗

• dct
• cortisol
• self-collection
• pediatric
• hormones
• liquid
• saliva
• biomarkers

The study determined that an at-home saliva collection protocol using the passive drool method was feasible for Black women with histories of abuse, with 84% of participants completing at least one full day of adherent sampling. While the decentralised approach yielded usable cortisol data, women with histories of forced sex exposure showed lower protocol adherence scores.

Repeat At-Home Saliva Collection to Measure Cortisol Awakening Response (CAR): Protocol Feasibility Study Among Black Women With Histories of Abuse — Tsuyuki et al., Interactive journal of medical research (paywalled) · source ↗

• dct
• acceptability
• cortisol
• self-collection
• liquid
• saliva

Twenty dementia caregivers self-collected saliva at home while using a mobile yoga app for twelve weeks. Those who practised most showed decreased salivary cortisol and increased 1,5-anhydroglucitol, indicating that self-collected saliva can track stress responses to decentralised behavioural interventions.

Self-Administered Gentle Yoga and Yoga Breathing Intervention Improves Burden and Stress Biomarkers in Caregivers of Persons Living with Dementia — Balasubramanian et al., International journal of yoga therapy (paywalled) · source ↗

• dct
• cortisol
• self-collection
• saliva
• biomarkers

Repeated self-collection of saliva for steroid hormone analysis proved feasible in dementia care dyads over eight weeks, with participants providing a mean of 4.3 to 4.9 morning samples weekly during the first seven weeks, falling to 3.3 in the final week. The music intervention was associated with lower morning cortisol concentrations in caregivers, showing that home-based saliva microsampling can objectively capture intervention effects in decentralised studies.

Assessing stress using repeated saliva concentration of steroid hormones in dementia care dyads: results from a controlled pilot care music intervention — Emami et al., Upsala journal of medical sciences · source ↗

• dct
• cortisol
• self-collection
• hormones
• saliva
• biomarkers

Daily home-based saliva collection proved feasible for six to eight weeks in people with dementia and their caregivers, with a quarter showing decreases in both morning and evening cortisol, suggesting stress reduction. Caregivers displayed a significant flattening of the morning to evening cortisol slope and dyads showed correlated evening cortisol trends, demonstrating that self-sampling can objectively monitor stress in decentralised studies of vulnerable populations.

The use of saliva steroids (cortisol and DHEA-s) as biomarkers of changing stress levels in people with dementia and their caregivers: A pilot study — Theorell et al., Science progress · source ↗

• dct
• cortisol
• self-collection
• hormones
• saliva
• biomarkers