Institutionalized children are often deprived of affective touch. Such tactile deprivation often leads to constant stress, as measured by the levels of salivary cortisol. We report here the impact of an affective touch program, optimized to activate a specific population of unmyelinated mechanosensitive nerves in the skin called c-tactile afferents (CT) on stress resistance. Two populations of children (age 4–10) were recruited: (i) a cohort living in an orphanage and (ii) a fostered cohort. Both groups received the affective touch program daily for 10–15 min for 5–6 weeks. A cohort of age-matched children living in a family environment acted as a control group and did not receive any instructions for tactile stimulation. Salivary cortisol was collected at the beginning (T1) and at the end (T2) of the study in all three groups. For institutionalized and fostered children there was a significant improvement in the level of cortisol ( < 0.0001) between T1 and T2, which is manifested in the balancing cortisol levels: a decrease where it was elevated and an increase, where the critically low level testified to the distress of the child. Balancing cortisol levels is a process of recovery to normal values, which indicates the restoration of neurohumoral mechanisms of stress regulation. The effect of balancing cortisol levels was more pronounced in the group of fostered children compared to the group of orphanage children ( = 0.0326). The children in the control group had no significant differences.

中文翻译：

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日常情感接触对收容和寄养儿童皮质醇水平的影响

被收容的儿童常常被剥夺情感接触。这种触觉剥夺通常会导致持续的压力，这是通过唾液皮质醇的水平来衡量的。我们在这里报告了情感触摸程序的影响，该程序经过优化以激活皮肤中称为 c 触觉传入 (CT) 的特定无髓鞘机械敏感神经群对压力抵抗力的影响。招募了两组儿童（4-10 岁）：(i) 一组生活在孤儿院，(ii) 一组寄养儿童。两组每天都接受情感触摸计划，每次 10-15 分钟，持续 5-6 周。一群生活在家庭环境中的年龄匹配的儿童作为对照组，没有接受任何触觉刺激的指示。在所有三组的研究开始（T1）和结束（T2）时收集唾液皮质醇。对于收容机构和寄养儿童，T1 和 T2 之间的皮质醇水平有显着改善（< 0.0001），这体现在平衡皮质醇水平上：升高时降低，而极低水平升高时升高孩子的苦恼。平衡皮质醇水平是恢复到正常值的过程，这表明压力调节的神经体液机制已恢复。与孤儿院儿童组相比，平衡皮质醇水平的效果在寄养儿童组中更为明显 (= 0.0326)。对照组儿童无显着差异。