PHOENIX: In older, community-dwelling, dementia-free adults, evening and morning cortisol levels may be differentially associated with volume reductions in grey and white matter and cognitive functioning, according to a population-based study.
All regional brain volumes, with the exception of the striatum, were significantly smaller in the highest tertile of evening cortisol compared to the lowest tertile.
Understanding these differential associations may aid in developing strategies to reduce the effects of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis dysfunction on late-life cognitive impairment, said the study…