Effects of estrogen on Stress Responses in Women

The question of habituation or facilitation of hormonal responses to stress with repeated testing is a complex one (1, 2). It is true that with psychological stress glucocorticoid responses have been shown to decrease when subjects are exposed to the same stressor repeatedly in close proximity. This is the case for the studies quoted by Kirschbaum et al. (3) and Deinzer et al. (4), in which exposure to stress occurred either daily or several times a day. In our study (5), by contrast, the two tests were administered 8 weeks apart and in the placebo-treated subjects. There was no evidence of a decrement in the responses of any of the variables measured between the 2 days, suggesting that in this group neither an habituation nor a facilitation effect occurred. The subjects treated with estradiol, however, showed significant reductions in glucocorticoid, catecholamine, and blood pressure responses. Elimination of confounding effects, such as habituation, to stress is one of the strengths of the placebo-controlled design.