Whitehall Psychobiology Study

The Whitehall Psychobiology study was carried out with a subsample of the Whitehall II cohort. It tested the hypothesis that socioeconomic status (indexed by grade of employment) is related to variations in psychobiological responses monitored in the laboratory and in naturalistic settings. The study involved 240 men and women drawn from different grades within the civil service. These volunteers underwent a laboratory session, with measurement of cardiovascular and other biological variables before, during and after performance of challenging behavioural tasks. They also carried out ambulatory monitoring of blood pressure over a working day, and saliva sampling of cortisol over one working and one leisure day. The primary data collection phase and a 3-year follow-up have been completed.

This study was funded through a programme grant from the Medical Research Council. 

Principal Investigators: Professor Andrew Steptoe and Professor Sir Michael Marmot

Contact: Professor Andrew Steptoe (a.steptoe@ucl.ac.uk)

Collaborators: Department of Medicine at UCL (Dr Vidya Mohamed-Ali), the Eastman Dental Institute (Professor Brian Henderson), the University of Glasgow (Professor Gordon Lowe and Dr Ann Rumley), and the University of Dresden (Professor Clemens Kirschbaum)