Can Plasma Cortisol Levels Gauge Alzheimer’s?

Evidence suggests a correlation between increases in activity of the hypothalamic-pituary-adrenal (HPA) axis and hippocampal degeneration. A study in the American Journal of Psychiatry set out to determine whether increases in plasma cortisol, a marker of HPA activity, indicates the progression of Alzheimer-type dementia. 33 subjects with mild Alzheimer’s symptoms and 21 healthy subjects were tested annually for 4 years with the Clinical Dementia Rating scale and individual plasma assessments. For subjects with dementia, dementia symptoms increased in conjunction with higher plasma cortisol levels. This correlation did not occur in healthy subjects, leading the authors to conclude that higher HPA activity, reflected by plasma cortisol levels, represents more rapid progression of Alzheimer-type dementia. http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/abstract/163/12/2164

-LS