90 citations
,
July 2014 in “Conservation Physiology” Hair cortisol levels in brown bears can be affected by both long-term and short-term stress.
85 citations
,
January 2014 in “Hormone Research in Paediatrics” Hair cortisol levels in children increase with age but are not affected by gender, puberty, or hair care.
80 citations
,
January 2011 in “Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (CCLM)” Hair cortisol levels can reflect salivary cortisol levels in humans.
69 citations
,
May 2016 in “General and Comparative Endocrinology” External factors can significantly affect hair cortisol levels, so it's not always a reliable stress marker.
50 citations
,
November 2020 in “Physiology & behavior” People with depression often have higher hair cortisol levels, while those with PTSD tend to have lower levels, but more research is needed to understand this fully.
50 citations
,
June 2014 in “Experimental and Clinical Endocrinology & Diabetes” Hair hormone levels can indicate obesity-related changes and are useful for research and clinical practice.
47 citations
,
January 2016 in “MethodsX” Hair cortisol analysis is a reliable tool for monitoring long-term stress in captive chimpanzees if certain variables are controlled.
44 citations
,
June 2018 in “Journal of Visualized Experiments” A culturally sensitive method was developed to collect hair samples from African Americans for stress analysis.
44 citations
,
February 2016 in “Zoology” Hair cortisol levels in primates are useful for stress assessment but vary by age, sex, species, and hair collection methods.
38 citations
,
September 2013 in “Therapeutic Drug Monitoring” First Nation individuals had higher hair cortisol levels, indicating more chronic stress.
30 citations
,
July 2016 in “Psychoneuroendocrinology” 24 citations
,
January 2019 in “Hormone Research in Paediatrics” Hair cortisol levels in children are influenced by puberty, age, gender, and body mass index.
24 citations
,
October 2018 in “Addiction Biology” Alcohol dependence affects stress hormone levels more than childhood maltreatment.
23 citations
,
January 2016 in “Brazilian Journal of Psychiatry” First-episode psychosis patients have higher hair cortisol levels, indicating early stress response issues.
23 citations
,
October 2008 in “Experimental and Clinical Endocrinology & Diabetes” Hair can show increased cortisol levels during late pregnancy.
22 citations
,
August 2016 in “European Eating Disorders Review” Adolescent girls with anorexia nervosa have lower hair cortisol levels than healthy and psychiatric peers.
21 citations
,
January 2017 in “MethodsX” Methanol is better than isopropanol for washing grizzly bear hair to measure cortisol.
21 citations
,
June 2016 in “Journal of Medical Primatology” Captive management practices affect hair loss and stress in rhesus monkeys, with differences between facilities.
21 citations
,
January 2016 in “NeuroImmunoModulation” Hair cortisol levels can indicate stress over the past three months.
16 citations
,
January 2021 in “Frontiers in veterinary science” Pigs in farrowing crates and loose-housing systems showed no difference in chronic stress levels as measured by hair cortisol.
11 citations
,
February 2005 in “Clinical pharmacology and therapeutics/Clinical pharmacology & therapeutics” Hair cortisol could be a marker for chronic stress in pregnancy, but depression affects cortisol levels differently.
5 citations
,
May 2021 in “Veterinary medicine and science” Injecting cosyntropin into grizzly bears increases blood cortisol but doesn't change hair cortisol levels.
5 citations
,
June 2020 in “Therapeutic drug monitoring” Hair sample weight is a better measure for cortisol levels in hair than hair protein concentration.
4 citations
,
June 2025 in “JMIR Formative Research” Hair cortisol concentration may reflect some physiological stress but doesn't strongly correlate with perceived stress.
3 citations
,
November 2021 in “Stress” Girls had higher stress hormone levels during school due to social and emotional issues, while boys had higher overall hormone levels with slight changes when school started.
3 citations
,
January 2012 Hair cortisol analysis shows sweat affects cortisol levels, and severe OSA may increase stress, but CPAP treatment doesn't significantly reduce physiological stress.
2 citations
,
June 2022 in “Scientific reports” Women with PCOS have higher hair cortisol levels, which are linked to worse metabolic and inflammatory conditions.
2 citations
,
January 2009 The procedure reliably measures cortisol in rhesus macaque hair.
1 citations
,
July 2023 in “Psychoneuroendocrinology” Hair cortisol is a reliable marker of long-term cortisol levels and is linked to daytime saliva cortisol but not morning levels.
1 citations
,
June 2023 in “Psychoneuroendocrinology” Childhood sexual trauma, especially between ages 5-7, is linked to lower cortisol levels in adult hair, suggesting long-term stress response changes.