Cortisol-a key factor to the understanding of the adjustment to childhood cancer

Malignancy and its treatments could cause disturbance in homeostasis of body such as cortisol secretion. The present study has investigated the effects of cortisol level imbalance in behavioral and emotional adjustments. Seventy-eight children with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia [ALL] have involved in this study. Their salivary cortisol level, which were sensitive to pain and disruptive behaviors, have measured. Cortisol level effect in different periods: within duration of reaction to pain, sensitivity to pain and disruptive behaviors have evaluated. In addition abnormal regulation of cortisol levels have shown a very strong relationship between sensitivity to pain and the disruptive behaviors. Cortisol suppression was responsible for adjustment by the participants to stressful conditions. Previous investigations have shown that there is a low reaction to stressor which decreases the vitality as well as impairing a negative memory in low cortisol levels. The findings of the present study demonstrated a nonlinear relation between cortisol level and sensitivity to pain as well as disruptive behaviors. Therefore, regulation of cortisol- up and down- is predisposed to maladjustment

Emotional regulation and adjustment to childhood cancer: role of the biological, psychological and social regulators on pediatric oncology adjustment

Children with cancer should deal with difficult situations such as undergoing multimodal treatment. Emotion Regulation Mechanisms [ERM] could be more effective for childhood cancer adaptation. The main purpose of this study was examination a number of the biological, psychological and social emotion regulators on adjustment to pediatric oncology. In this study, 98 children [39 girls and 59 boys] have participated that diagnosed as Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia [ALL] cases along with their mothers. The participants were between 8 to 12 years old. Salivary cortisol, cognitive emotion regulation, children's level of inhibition, maternal positivity and Beck Depression Inventory have been applied for evaluation of Emotion Regulation [ER] while Cancer-Specific Stress and Coping, Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, anxiety-depression scales and vitality test have all used for assessing the Emotional Adjustment [EA]. Using the canonical correlation has been showing significant relation between predictors of ER and EA. Cortisol level and mother's depression have played the most important role in above correlation. Variation of cortisol level has identified by its various effects on the mother's behavioral system depression, cognitive strategies and emotional inhibition; would determine the rate of coping with cancer, resiliency and vitality

Sensitivity to pain in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia [ALL]

There are many physiological and psychological factors, which affect sensitivity to pain in children afflicted with ALL. The main purpose of this study was to evaluate the relation between salivary cortisol and sensitivity to pain, and also study the role of age and gender. Seventy eight children [33 girls and 45 boys, aged 3 to 12 years] with ALL participated in this study. Morning salivary cortisol was measured and Behavior Scales of Sensitivity to Pain for Children [BSSPC] and Pre-Linguistic Behavioral Pain Reactivity Scale [PL-BPRS] were applied. The results showed a high significant correlation between cortisol levels and pain sensitivity. Cortisol suppression was observed in some participants. The roles of gender and age in relation between cortisol levels and sensitivity to pain were assessed by using moderated regression. Gender and age moderated the relation between sensitivity to pain and cortisol level. Conditional fear can explain for high sensitivity to pain amongst the participants; chemotherapy drugs might play a role in cortisol suppression and parenthood style perhaps determines sex difference in reaction to pain