Early life stress and HPA axis function independently predict adult depressive symptoms in metropolitan Cebu, Philippines

Abstract Objectives Alterations in adult hypothalamic?pituitary?adrenal (HPA) axis activity have increasingly been linked with early life stress and adult depression, but a limited number of studies have used longitudinal data to explore HPA axis dysregulation as an underlying mechanism driving the long-term depressive impacts of early stressors. Here we address potential long-term impacts of early life, family-based stress on depressive symptoms among young adults in a longitudinal birth cohort study begun in 1983 in the Philippines. Materials and methods We relate a composite measure of family-based stressors experienced between birth and adolescence to circadian dynamics in adult salivary cortisol and depressive risk measured at 21?22?years of age. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to examine the relationship between early life stress levels and risk of adult depressive symptoms, as well as the role of adult diurnal cortisol activity in this relationship. Results Greater levels of early life familial stress predicted more severe depressive symptomatology at age 21?22 in a dose?response fashion (p?