CHRONOBIOLOGICAL PARAMETERS AND PSYCHOLOGICAL TEST PERFORMANCES ARE MODERATELY IMPACTED IN PATIENTS WITH ADRENAL INSUFFICIENCY DEPENDING ON TIME OF DAY AND LUNAR CYCLE

Cortisol is a key mediator for the rhythmic expression of circadian signals in almost all tissues, physiological timing of which is strictly regulated by the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. Diseases affecting HPA signaling might hence have consequences on the individual’s chronobiological phenotypes. We therefore investigated 22 patients with autoimmune adrenalitis having stable hydrocortisone replacement therapy and 40 healthy controls of comparable age (53.77±17.27 vs 47.77±14.94 years) and sex (15f/7m vs 31f/9m). They were assessed for chronotypes using the Munich Chronotype Questionnaire and subjected to five different psychology-based tasks for at least four times; since human chronotypes are observed to impact cognition. They also wore an actimetry device for 12 weeks, that monitored sleep, temperature and light. We observed that the patient cohort showed an earlier sleep onset, and a tendency to have earlier chronotypes in comparison to the controls. They show very strong sleep onset delays before weekends, most likely reflecting increased social interactions. Consistent with previous findings, a significant lunar periodicity (29.5 days) for maximal night sleep duration was observed within the controls. Controls performed better than patients in tasks that measured attention and aesthetic sensitivity when time of day was taken to consideration. We also observed significant differences in performance in psychology based tasks between cohorts when timing of the lunar cycle was considered. These results suggest that in certain situations, lunar time is an important variable of human performance, consistent with the importance of lunar monthly timing for many animals from bristle worms to apes.