Cortisol Concentration Is Reduced During the Workday but Is not Associated With Depressive Symptoms in Healthcare Workers During the COVID-19 Outbreak.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: The concentration of cortisol varies during the day and is related to high-stress situations that could lead to the development of mental disorders such as depression. We aimed to determine the level of cortisol and the presence of depression in health workers in the clinical pathology service of a specialized hospital during 2021.

METHODS

Observational study conducted in personnel of the clinical pathology service through blood sampling at two time points during the day: in the morning at the beginning of their workday and in the afternoon at the end of it. Moreover, the Zung Depression Scale was also administered.

RESULTS

Eighty-one professionals aged 21-67 participated, with an average age of 42 ± 10.3 years. Of them, 50.6% were women, mostly medical technologists (59.3%), and the most frequent length of service was 1-10 years (43.2%). The serum cortisol concentration in the morning had an average of 10.6 ± 4.9 μg/dL, and in the afternoon it was 8.4 ± 5.9 μg/dL, finding differences between both measurements (p < 0.001). The majority of participants (87.7% morning cortisol, 77.7% afternoon cortisol) did not present depression during both measurements. Only 3.7% of workers with cortisol concentrations outside the normal range during the morning (2.5% with low concentration, 1.2% with high concentration) had mild depression, and during the afternoon measurement, 6.2% with high cortisol concentrations had mild depression. We found no correlation between morning (p = 0.580) and afternoon (p = 0.074) cortisol concentrations and depressive symptoms.

CONCLUSION

Cortisol levels vary between morning and afternoon in clinical pathology personnel; however, they are not related to the presence of depression. Despite being isolated from human contact, they seem to feel safe in their environment due to the extensive security measures established with the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic.