Melissa A Liebert, Samuel S Urlacher, Felicia C Madimenos, Theresa E Gildner, Tara J Cepon-Robins, Christopher J Harrington, Richard G Bribiescas, Lawrence S Sugiyama, J Josh Snodgrass
OBJECTIVES: The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and its primary end product, the glucocorticoid cortisol, are major components of the evolved human stress response. However, most studies have examined these systems among populations in high-income settings, which differ from the high pathogen and limited resource contexts in which the HPA axis functioned for most of human evolution. METHODS: We investigated variability in diurnal salivary cortisol patterns among 298 Indigenous Shuar from Amazonian Ecuador (147 males, 151 females; age 2-86 years), focusing on the effects of age, biological sex, and body mass index (BMI) in shaping differences in diurnal cortisol production...
March 22, 2024: American Journal of Human Biology: the Official Journal of the Human Biology Council