Pre-trauma Salivary Cortisol Levels and General Health Ratings in Relation to Post-trauma Changes in Cortisol and Psychological Distress after UN-service in Bosnia

• Background: The psychobiology of post-traumatic distress is known to some extent, however the pre-trauma psychobiology is not. The aims of the present study were to relate pre- and post-trauma salivary cortisol levels and general health to post-traumatic distress in a Swedish UN-battalion in Bosnia.Methods: Salivary 8 AM and I 0 PM cortisol levels and "General Health Questionnaire" ratings were collected from 145 subjects before the six months' mission, at return and two and six months after mission. During follow-up, the ratings were extended by the "Impact of Events Scale" (IES) and "Post Traumatic Symptom Scale".Results: Low pre-trauma morning and evening salivary cortisol levels were statistically significantly related to high scores in all rating scales six months after mission and to increasing IES scores during follow-up. Low morning and high evening post-trauma salivary cortisol levels were related to high ratings of psychological distress six months after missionConclusions: Pre-trauma salivary cortisol levels seem to be related to posttrauma psychological distress, however not to the extent that salivary cortisol levels in a simple way could be used for predictive screening.

Nyckelord

Saliva

cortisol

relation to

rating scales

traumatic stress

UN-soldiers

MEDICINE

MEDICIN

Publikations- och innehållstyp

vet (ämneskategori)

ovr (ämneskategori)