%0 Journal Article %A Mai Stafford %A Yoav Ben-Shlomo %A Cyrus Cooper %A Catharine Gale %A Michael P Gardner %A Marie-Claude Geoffroy %A Chris Power %A Diana Kuh %A Rachel Cooper %T Diurnal cortisol and mental well-being in middle and older age: evidence from four cohort studies %D 2017 %R 10.1136/bmjopen-2017-016085 %J BMJ Open %P e016085 %V 7 %N 10 %X Objectives We conducted an individual participant meta-analysis to test the hypothesis that cortisol patterns indicative of dysregulated hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis functioning would be prospectively associated with poorer well-being at follow-up.Setting Four large UK-based cohort studies.Participants Those providing valid salivary or serum cortisol samples (n=7515 for morning cortisol; n=1612 for cortisol awakening response) at baseline (age 44–82) and well-being data on the Warwick Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale at follow-up (0–8 years) were included.Results Well-being was not associated with morning cortisol, diurnal slope or awakening response though a borderline association with evening cortisol was found. Adjusting for sex and follow-up time, each 1 SD increase in evening cortisol was associated with a −0.47 (95% CI −1.00 to 0.05) point lower well-being. This was attenuated by adjustment for body mass index, smoking and socioeconomic position. Between-study heterogeneity was low.Conclusions This study does not support the hypothesis that diurnal cortisol is prospectively associated with well-being up to 8 years later. However, replication in prospective studies with cortisol samples over multiple days is required. %U https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/bmjopen/7/10/e016085.full.pdf