Contributions to the study of cortisol as a biomarker of the antisocial personality disorder

Abstract

Aim: assess in women with diagnosis of Turner´s syndrome who presented antisocial personality disorder, morning and evening levels of cortisol and its circadian slope, in order to contribute to the discussion about the relationship between personality disorders and cortisol secretion. Material and methods: we performed an ex post facto, retrospective, descriptive and cross-sectional study with two groups. The sample was intentional and conformed by women diagnosed with Turner´s Syndrome who presented antisocial personality disorder and their respective control cases with ages between 18-40. To assess personality disorders we used the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory II. Salivary free cortisol was determined, during morning and evening, to analyze the functionality of the hypothalamicpituitary-adrenal axis. Results: lower levels of morning and evening cortisol were evidenced in participants diagnosed with Turner´s Syndrome so as the existence of statistically significant differences between the results of the clinical sample and the control sample. Discussion: results allow us to observe that women with diagnosis of Turner´s Syndrome who presented antisocial personality disorders exhibit a deregulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, expressed in an alteration of the circadian rhythm of cortisol with flattening of the morning slope. Obtained data allow us to emphasize the importance of further study of the relationship between genetic and environmental factors and their subsequent expression in the psychoneuroendocrine system, in a vulnerable population as the addressed.