Measuring stress levels through hair samples could provide important clues about mental health risks in children living with chronic physical illnesses, research suggests.
“Hair cortisol offers a non-invasive, easy-to-collect biomarker that could one day be used to screen children and track whether treatments or support programs are helping to reduce stress,” study co-author Mark Ferro, a professor in the University of Waterloo’s School of Public Health Sciences, said in a statement.
