Correlation Between Degrees of Stress and Hair Cortisol Levels in Family of Covid-19 Patients at Universitas Airlangga Hospital

ABSTRACT

Around 20,3% of hospitalized COVID-19 patients require treatment in the ICU with mortality rate of 40%. The pandemic caused by COVID-19 causes stress for the patient's family members. The degree of stress can be measured using the DASS-42 questionnaire. Cortisol is an indicator of body's response to stress through HPA axis. Hair cortisol levels can reflect HPA activity. This study aims to observe the correlation between stress levels and hair cortisol levels in families of COVID-19 patients. This study was an observational analytic study with a cross-sectional design. There were 23 research subjects who met the inclusion and exclusion criteria. In this study, the DASS-42 questionnaire was utilized which then filled out by the subject and sampling the subject's hair to measure hair cortisol levels on the 1st day of treatment. Data were analyzed using SPSS 21.0 software (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). The findings revealed that there was no significant relationship between the degree of stress and hair cortisol levels in the families of COVID-19 patients (p>0.05). Hair cortisol levels were within normal range. The degree of stress was not related to hair cortisol levels. Further studies involving multicenters with larger samples and longer observations are needed to confirm the results of this study. Copyright © 2022, Anka Publishers. All rights reserved.