Comparing the effects of age, pubertal development, and symptom profile on cortisol rhythm in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder.
Rachael A Muscatello, Blythe A Corbett
PMID 29030905WHAT IT FOUND
Across the day, salivary cortisol did not differ overall between autism and typically developing groups, but evening cortisol was higher in autism and adolescents with autism had a flatter decline.
Key findings
01Evening salivary cortisol was higher in youth with autism than in typically developing youth, and the difference remained after IQ and parent education were considered.
02Adolescents with autism had a flatter daily cortisol decline than children with autism.
03Parent-reported stress and internalizing symptoms were not significantly linked to evening cortisol, although total daily cortisol output showed a trend-level association with withdrawn/depressed symptoms.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they found
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What it does not show
The study was cross-sectional, so it cannot show whether the same children develop higher evening cortisol over time. The sample was mostly male, with 99 boys and 14 girls, so results may not apply to girls with autism. All participants had IQ at least 70, so the findings do not cover the full autism spectrum. The groups differed in IQ, and although analyses controlled for IQ and parent education, the baseline IQ difference remained. Pubertal development was based on parent report rather than clinical exam, so it may misclassify development. There were fewer adolescents than children, with 43 adolescents and 70 children. This limits confidence in developmental comparisons. Two extreme evening cortisol values were removed, and some analyses used fewer participants because parent education was not reported by all.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflict of interest. The publication types list NIH extramural research support.
The easy way to misread this
Do not treat this as evidence that cortisol causes autism symptoms or that clinicians should test or lower cortisol. The study was cross-sectional, the overall day cortisol difference was not significant, and evening cortisol was not linked to parent-reported stress or symptoms.