Using Salivary Cortisol as an Objective Measure of Physiological Stress in People With Dementia and Chronic Pain: A Pilot Feasibility Study

Self-collection of saliva for cortisol awakening response research at home was experienced as arduous, with participants reporting apprehension, cognitive burden, and disruption to sleep and morning routines. Difficulty identifying the moment of awakening affected sample timing, though habituation reduced these effects over repeated days, indicating that clear protocols are needed to improve ecological validity in decentralised hormone monitoring.

<b>Experiences of participating in cortisol awakening response research:</b> <i>"I was more conscious</i> <i>than usual, I wanted to get it right</i> <i>"</i> — Ramachandran et al., Comprehensive psychoneuroendocrinology · source ↗

• saliva
• self-collection
• acceptability
• hormones
• cortisol

Salivary glucocorticoid concentrations were comparable across Salivette Cortisol, passive drool and SalivaBio collection methods, and remained stable for 72 hours at room temperature and 4 degrees Celsius with no significant degradation after repeated freeze-thaw cycles. In children under six years, the SaliPac pacifier swab was well tolerated and collected sufficient saliva for steroid analysis in under four minutes.

Salivary Steroid Collection in Children Under Conditions Replicating Home Sampling — Tonge et al., The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism (paywalled) · source ↗

• saliva
• liquid
• self-collection
• validation
• acceptability
• pediatric
• hormones
• cortisol

Three-quarters of dementia care dyads completed eight weeks of in-home saliva collection for cortisol and DHEA-S, with patients and caregivers producing equally valid samples. This demonstrates that self-administered saliva collection is feasible even among people with cognitive impairment, supporting decentralised stress biomarker monitoring in this population.

The Feasibility and Acceptability of In-Home Saliva Collection for Stress in Persons With Dementia and Their Family Caregivers — Emami et al., Biological research for nursing (paywalled) · source ↗

• saliva
• self-collection
• acceptability
• hormones
• cortisol

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

At-home saliva sampling for cortisol was feasible over 12 days in two people with poststroke aphasia, with the cortisol awakening response remaining consistent across days and weeks.

Intraindividual Variability of the Cortisol Awakening Response, Sleep Dynamics, Stress, and Emotion in Two Persons With Poststroke Aphasia — Laures-Gore et al., Journal of speech, language, and hearing research : JSLHR (paywalled) · source ↗

• cortisol
• self-collection
• hormones
• liquid
• saliva