TY  - JOUR
AU  - Schmidt, Martina
AU  - Semik, Johanna
AU  - Habermann, Nina
AU  - Wiskemann, Joachim
AU  - Ulrich, Cornelia M
AU  - Steindorf, Karen
TI  - Cancer-related fatigue shows a stable association with diurnal cortisol dysregulation in breast cancer patients.
JO  - Brain, behavior and immunity
VL  - 52
SN  - 0889-1591
CY  - Orlando, Fla. [u.a.]
PB  - Elsevier
M1  - DKFZ-2017-05582
SP  - 98 - 105
PY  - 2016
AB  - Fatigue is a major burden for breast cancer patients undergoing adjuvant therapy. Yet, its pathophysiology is still not well understood. Hypothesized mechanisms include dysregulations in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, which may be reflected in alterations in the diurnal cortisol patterns. However, studies on the association between cortisol and fatigue during adjuvant cancer therapy are rare. We therefore assessed salivary cortisol at awakening, 0.5h post-awakening, noon, 5 pm and 10 pm/bedtime in 265 breast cancer patients undergoing adjuvant therapy at three timepoints. Cancer-related fatigue was assessed with the Fatigue Assessment Questionnaire (FAQ) covering the physical, affective, and cognitive fatigue dimensions. Multiple linear regression analyses were performed cross-sectionally at the three timepoints as well as longitudinally considering changes in cortisol and fatigue over time. The results showed that the physical dimension of cancer-related fatigue was significantly associated with increased evening cortisol levels and higher overall cortisol secretion. These associations were independent of depressive symptoms. Morning cortisol levels, the cortisol awakening response and the diurnal slope were not consistently associated with physical fatigue. Affective and cognitive fatigue showed no clear association with any of the cortisol parameters. In conclusion, the physical but not the affective or cognitive dimension of fatigue seems associated with cortisol dysregulations in breast cancer patients undergoing adjuvant therapy, characterized by an unaffected cortisol level in the morning but blunted decline to the evening level. Research focusing on disturbances of the cortisol rhythm and HPA dysregulations during and after cancer treatment may open new strategies to reduce cancer-related fatigue.
KW  - Hydrocortisone (NLM Chemicals)
LB  - PUB:(DE-HGF)16
C6  - pmid:26456694
DO  - DOI:10.1016/j.bbi.2015.10.005
UR  - https://inrepo02.dkfz.de/record/130503
ER  -