Early trauma moderates the link between familial risk for depression and post-stress DHEA/cortisol ratios in adolescents

• Published in: Psychoneuroendocrinology 2019-12, Vol.110, p.104424-104424, Article 104424
• Main Authors: Micol, Valerie J., Roberts, Andrea G., Taylor-Cavelier, Sarah J., Geiss, Elisa G., Lopez-Duran, Nestor
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescence; Cortisol; Dehydroepiandrosterone; Depression; Ratios; Stress
• ISSN: 0306-4530; 1873-3360
• DOI: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2019.104424

•Groups exhibited similar levels of DHEA/cortisol ratios at baseline and post-stress initiation.•Trauma exposure moderated this association after stress initiation but not at baseline.•High risk along with greater trauma had greater DHEA/cortisol ratios post-stress.•This association was not found for DHEA levels or cortisol levels alone. One proposed mechanism for familial transmission of depression risk is impaired ability to regulate stress. While much of this work has focused on the stress hormone cortisol, there is evidence that the neuroprotective hormone dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) may play a critical role in stress regulation and that the ratios of DHEA to cortisol may provide meaningful information about individual differences in stress processing. In this study, we examined DHEA and DHEA/cortisol ratios among teens at low and high risk for depression. Participants included 101 youth (12-16-year-old; 50 female) including 53 with a family history of depression (High Risk for depression). Adolescents and their parents completed diagnostic interviews, the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire and the Childhood Depression Inventory. Saliva samples were collected at multiple time points before and after adolescents underwent the Trier Social Stress Test. Cortisol and DHEA ratios were examined at baseline and 35 min post-stress initiation. High risk (HR) and low risk (LR) participants did not differ on DHEA/cortisol ratios. However, childhood trauma moderated the relationship between risk group and DHEA/cortisol ratios, where at high levels of trauma, HR participants had significantly higher ratios than LR participants. Our findings suggest that higher DHEA/cortisol ratios may not be indicative of greater protection against risk for depression as previously conceptualized. In the context of early trauma, higher DHEA/cortisol ratios may reflect a blunting of the HPA-axis that is not observed when examining cortisol levels alone. This study has implications for our conceptualization of DHEA/cortisol ratios as an indicator of risk for psychopathology.