Within-person bidirectional associations between maternal cortisol reactivity and harsh parenting across infancy and toddlerhood

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

Higher lifetime trauma exposure in adolescent mothers was associated with higher evening salivary cortisol, and maternal trauma during pregnancy was associated with higher bedtime cortisol in infants, suggesting that self-collected saliva can capture diurnal cortisol patterns relevant to trauma research and decentralised sampling.

A Preliminary Investigation of Associations Between Traumatic Events Experienced During Pregnancy and Salivary Diurnal Cortisol Levels of Brazilian Adolescent Mothers and Infants — Wiley et al., American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council (paywalled) · source ↗

• saliva
• self-collection
• pediatric
• hormones
• cortisol

Among children of parents with bipolar disorder, saliva samples collected at home over two days showed that improvements in family organisation during a six-month prevention programme were associated with adaptive changes in hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activity, including elevated cortisol awakening response and steeper diurnal slope. These results indicate that decentralised saliva collection can capture clinically meaningful neuroendocrine responses to psychosocial interventions in at-risk paediatric populations.

Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis function in the offspring of parents with bipolar disorder and the impact of the family environment: A pilot study of the Reducing Unwanted Stress in the Home (RUSH) prevention program — Ping et al., Psychoneuroendocrinology (paywalled) · source ↗

• saliva
• self-collection
• pediatric
• hormones
• cortisol

A validated LC-MS/MS assay successfully measured 13 steroid hormones and two synthetic steroids in saliva, requiring only 50 microlitres, or down to 2 to 5 microlitres for nine analytes. This shows saliva's viability for non-invasive, patient-centric microsampling and decentralised monitoring in paediatric, neonatal and adult populations.

An LC-MS/MS assay for simultaneous determination of 13 steroid hormones and two synthetic steroids in saliva: potential utility for paediatric population and beyond — Dahl et al., Scandinavian journal of clinical and laboratory investigation (paywalled) · source ↗

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

Maltreated adolescents exhibited persistently flattened cortisol diurnal rhythms when saliva was collected at home, showing that decentralised, patient-centric microsampling across laboratory, home, and school settings can reveal neurobiological adaptations to chronic stress. This supports saliva self-collection as a feasible method for monitoring HPA axis dysfunction in vulnerable youth.

Cortisol's diurnal rhythm indexes the neurobiological impact of child adversity in adolescence — Shirtcliff et al., Biological psychology (paywalled) · source ↗

• saliva
• self-collection
• pediatric
• hormones
• cortisol