Am J Psychiatry 1982; 139:39-44
Copyright © 1982 by American Psychiatric Association
Variability of hormonal responses to a series of neuroendocrine challenges in depressed patients
A Winokur, J Amsterdam, S Caroff, PJ Snyder and D Brunswick
Abnormalities of hormonal responses to a number of neuroendocrine
challenges have been reported in depressed patients. The authors used a
series of four neuroendocrine challenges-thyrotropin-releasing hormone
(TRH) and gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) stimulation, insulin
tolerance test (ITT), and overnight dexamethasone suppression test
(DST)-and examined eight hormonal responses in 24 healthy subjects and 26
patients with primary unipolar affective disorder. Seven control subjects
(29.2%) and 25 depressed patients (96.2%) had at least one abnormal
response, and 15 depressed patients (57.7%) had two or mor abnormal
responses. These findings suggest that depressed patients show variability
in hormonal response across a number of neuroendocrine axes. No consistent
patterns of abnormality of hormonal response were observed.
