Elevated hair cortisol levels in chronically stressed dementia caregivers

Hair cortisol concentrations (HCC) are assumed to reflect integrated long-term cortisol levels and have been proposed as a promising endocrine marker of chronic psychological stress. The current study examined HCC in relation to caregiving burden, a well-established naturalistic model of chronic stress in humans. HCC and relevant psychosocial data were examined in 20 caregivers of relatives with dementia and 20 non-caregiver controls matched for...