Validation of an online version of the trier social stress test in adult men and women
Meier et al.
The finding, in our words
The online Trier Social Stress Test increased cortisol and alpha amylase, increased arousal and reduced pleasure, with stronger cortisol responses in men and 64 per cent of participants classified as responders, supporting decentralised diagnostics by showing remote saliva sampling can capture stress biomarkers.
A paraphrase to the Library’s standard, never the abstract. The source is one link away and is always the authority.
The online Trier Social Stress Test produced cortisol responses in 63% of adolescents with an effect size of 0.57 from baseline to peak, matching in-person test results. This remote protocol allows HPA axis assessment without laboratory visits, making it viable for decentralised research and populations distant from research centres.
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.
This study found that salivary 11-dehydrodexamethasone correlates strongly with serum dexamethasone, unlike salivary dexamethasone which shows poor agreement. This validation suggests patients could self-collect saliva samples at home to verify dexamethasone absorption for the overnight suppression test.
This study validated a lateral flow fluorescence assay using quantum dots for saliva and europium nanoparticles for serum to detect cortisol within physiological ranges. The test operates in 15 minutes with a handheld reader, supporting point-of-care and at-home monitoring without a cold chain.
In a study of 46 perinatal nicotine users, dried blood spots and saliva were used weekly to measure reproductive hormones, finding that lower postpartum estradiol and greater peripartum declines in oxytocin were associated with increased nicotine craving and use. This demonstrates the feasibility of decentralised microsampling and remote surveys for longitudinal hormone tracking in vulnerable populations.