Journal of Affective Disorders
Volume 82, Issue 1 , Pages 53-59 , 1 October 2004

Age effects on cortisol levels in depressed patients with and without comorbid post-traumatic stress disorder, and healthy volunteers

Received 12 June 2003 ,Accepted 23 September 2003.

References 

  1. Aeschbach D, Sher L, Postolache TT, Matthews JR, Jackson MA, Wehr TA. A longer biological night in long sleepers than in short sleepers. J. Clin. Endocrinol. Metab. 2003;88:26–30
  2. Akil H, Haskett RF, Young EA, Grunhaus L, Kotun J, Weinberg V, et al. Multiple HPA profiles in endogenous depression: effect of age and sex on cortisol and beta-endorphin. Biol. Psychiatry. 1993;33:73–85
  3. Alexopoulos GS, Young RC, Kocsis JH, Brockner N, Butler TA, Stokes PE. Dexamethasone suppression test in geriatric depression. Biol. Psychiatry. 1984;19:1567–1571
  4. American Psychiatric Association Task Force . Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III-R). Washington, DC: APA Press; 1987;
  5. Asnis GM, Sachar EJ, Halbreich U, Nathan RS, Novacenko H, Ostrow LC. Cortisol secretion in relation to age in major depression. Psychosom. Med. 1981;43:235–242
  6. Beck AT, Ward CH, Mendelson M, Mock J, Erbaugh J. An inventory for measuring depression. Arch. Gen. Psychiatry. 1961;4:53–63
  7. Beck AT, Weissman A, Lester D, Trexler L. The measurement of pessimism: the hopelessness scale. J. Consult. Clin. Psychol. 1974;42:861–865
  8. Blazer DG, Kessler RC, McGonagle KA, Swartz MS. The prevalence and distribution of major depression in a national community sample: the National Comorbidity Survey. Am. J. Psychiatry. 1994;151:979–986
  9. Bleich A, Koslowsky M, Dolev A, Lerer B. Post-traumatic stress disorder and depression. An analysis of comorbidity. Br. J. Psychiatry. 1997;170:479–482
  10. Breslau N, Davis GC, Andreski P, Peterson E. Traumatic events and post-traumatic stress disorder in an urban population of young adults. Arch. Gen. Psychiatry. 1991;48:216–222
  11. Brown RP, Stoll PM, Stokes PE, Frances A, Sweeney J, Kocsis JH, et al. Adrenocortical hyperactivity in depression: effects of agitation, delusions, melancholia, and other illness variables. Psychiatry Res. 1988;23:167–178
  12. Carroll BJ, Feinberg M, Greden JF, Tarika J, Albala AA, Haskett RF, et al. A specific laboratory test for the diagnosis of melancholia. Standardization, validation, and clinical utility. Arch. Gen. Psychiatry. 1981;38:15–22
  13. Davidson JR, Hughes D, Blazer DG, George LK. Post-traumatic stress disorder in the community: an epidemiological study. Psychol. Med. 1991;21:713–721
  14. Ferrari E, Casarotti D, Muzzoni B, Albertelli N, Cravello L, Fioravanti M, et al. Age-related changes of the adrenal secretory pattern: possible role in pathological brain aging. Brain Res. Brain Res. Rev. 2001;37:294–300
  15. Goenjian AK, Yehuda R, Pynoos RS, Steinberg AM, Tashjian M, Yang RK, et al. Basal cortisol, dexamethasone suppression of cortisol, and MHPG in adolescents after the 1988 earthquake in Armenia. Am. J. Psychiatry. 1996;153:929–934
  16. Greden JF, Flegel P, Haskett R, Dilsaver S, Carroll BJ, Grunhaus L, et al. Age effects in serial hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal monitoring. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 1986;11:195–204
  17. Halbreich U, Asnis GM, Zumoff B, Nathan RS, Shindledecker R. Effect of age and sex on cortisol secretion in depressives and normals. Psychiatry Res. 1984;13:221–229
  18. Hamilton M. A rating scale for depression. J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatry. 1960;23:56–62
  19. Heim C, Newport DJ, Bonsall R, Miller AH, Nemeroff CB. Altered pituitary–adrenal axis responses to provocative challenge tests in adult survivors of childhood abuse. Am. J. Psychiatry. 2001;158:575–581
  20. Holsboer F. The corticosteroid receptor hypothesis of depression. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2000;23:477–501
  21. Jernigan TL, Archibald SL, Berhow MT, Sowell ER, Foster DS, Hesselink JR. Cerebral structure on MRI, part I: localization of age-related changes. Biol. Psychiatry. 1991;29:55–67
  22. Kellner M, Wiedemann K, Yassouridis A, Levengood R, Guo LS, Holsboer F, et al. Behavioral and endocrine response to cholecystokinin tetrapeptide in patients with post-traumatic stress disorder. Biol. Psychiatry. 2000;47:107–111
  23. Kessler RC, Sonnega A, Bromet E, Hughes M, Nelson CB. Post-traumatic stress disorder in the National Comorbidity Survey. Arch. Gen. Psychiatry. 1995;52:1048–1060
  24. Kluznik JC, Speed N, Van Valkenburg C, Magraw R. Forty-year follow-up of United States prisoners of war. Am. J. Psychiatry. 1986;143:1443–1446
  25. Krebs HA, Cheng LK, Wright GJ. Determination of fenfluramine and norfenfluramine in plasma using a nitrogen-sensitive detector. J. Chromatogr. Biomed. Appl. 1984;310:412–417
  26. Landfield PW, Braun LD, Pitler TA, Lindsey JD, Lynch G. Hippocampal aging in rats: a morphometric study of multiple variables in semithin sections. Neurobiol. Aging. 1981;2:265–275
  27. Lewis DA, Pfohl B, Schlechte J, Coryell W. Influence of age on the cortisol response to dexamethasone. Psychiatry Res. 1984;13:213–220
  28. Lupien SJ, de Leon M, de Santi S, Convit A, Tarshish C, Nair NP, et al. Cortisol levels during human aging predict hippocampal atrophy and memory deficits. Nat. Neurosci. 1998;1:69–73
  29. Mason JW, Giller EL, Kosten TR, Ostroff RB, Podd L. Urinary free-cortisol levels in post-traumatic stress disorder patients. J. Nerv. Ment. Dis. 1986;174:145–149
  30. Oquendo MA, Friend JM, Halberstam B, Brodsky BS, Burke AK, Grunebaum MF, et al. Association of comorbid post-traumatic stress disorder and major depression with greater risk for suicidal behavior. Am. J. Psychiatry. 2003;160:580–582
  31. Oquendo MA, Echavarria G, Galfalvy HC, Grunebaum MF, Burke A, Barrera A, et al. Lower cortisol levels in depressed patients with comorbid post-traumatic stress disorder. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2003;28:591–598
  32. Oxenkrug GF, Pomara N, McIntyre IM, Branconnier RJ, Stanley M, Gershon S. Aging and cortisol resistance to suppression by dexamethasone: a positive correlation. Psychiatry Res. 1983;10:125–130
  33. Parnetti L, Mecocci P, Neri C, Palazzetti D, Fiacconi M, Santucci A, et al  Neuroendocrine markers in aging brain: clinical and neurobiological significance of dexamethasone suppression test. Aging (Milano). 1990;2:173–179
  34. Ramasubbu R, Flint A, Brown G, Awad G, Kennedy S. Neurohormonal responses to d-fenfluramine in healthy elderly subjects. A placebo-controlled study. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2000;25:139–150
  35. Reagan LP, McEwen BS. Controversies surrounding glucocorticoid-mediated cell death in the hippocampus. J. Chem. Neuroanat. 1997;13:149–167
  36. Sapolsky RM. Is this relevant to the human?. In: Stress, the Aging Brain and the Mechanisms of Neuron Death. Cambridge, MA: MIT; 1992;p. 305–339
  37. Sapolsky RM, Krey LC, McEwen BS. Prolonged glucocorticoid exposure reduces hippocampal neuron number: implications for aging. J. Neurosci. 1985;5:1222–1227
  38. Schlesser MA, Winokur G, Sherman BM. Hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis activity in depressive illness. Its relationship to classification. Arch. Gen. Psychiatry. 1980;37:737–743
  39. Sheline YI, Wang PW, Gado MH, Csernansky JG, Vannier MW. Hippocampal atrophy in recurrent major depression. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 1996;93:3908–3913
  40. Sheline YI, Sanghavi M, Mintun MA, Gado MH. Depression duration but not age predicts hippocampal volume loss in medically healthy women with recurrent major depression. J. Neurosci. 1999;19:5034–5043
  41. Sherman B, Wysham C, Pfohl B. Age-related changes in the circadian rhythm of plasma cortisol in man. J. Clin. Endocrinol. Metab. 1985;61:439–443
  42. Stein MB, Yehuda R, Koverola C, Hanna C. Enhanced dexamethasone suppression of plasma cortisol in adult women traumatized by childhood sexual abuse. Biol. Psychiatry. 1997;42:680–686
  43. Tennant C, Fairley MJ, Dent OF, Sulway MR, Broe GA. Declining prevalence of psychiatric disorder in older former prisoners of war. J. Nerv. Ment. Dis. 1997;185:686–689
  44. Vecsei P. Glucocorticoids: cortisol, cortisone, corticosterone, compound S, and their metabolites. In:  Jaffe BM,  Behrman HR editor. Methods of Hormone Radioimmunoassay. 2nd ed.. New York: Academic Press; 1979;p. 767–796
  45. von Bardeleben U, Holsboer F. Effect of age on the cortisol response to human corticotropin-releasing hormone in depressed patients pretreated with dexamethasone. Biol. Psychiatry. 1991;29:1042–1050
  46. Whiteford HA, Peabody CA, Thiemann S, Kraemer HC, Csernansky JG, Berger PA. The effect of age on baseline and post-dexamethasone cortisol levels in major depressive disorder. Biol. Psychiatry. 1987;22:1029–1032
  47. Wilkinson CW, Petrie EC, Murray SR, Colasurdo EA, Raskind MA, Peskind ER. Human glucocorticoid feedback inhibition is reduced in older individuals: evening study. J. Clin. Endocrinol. Metab. 2001;86:545–550
  48. Yehuda R. Current status of cortisol findings in post-traumatic stress disorder. Psychiatr. Clin. North Am. 2002;25:341–368
  49. Yehuda R, Southwick SM, Nussbaum G, Wahby V, Giller ELJr, Mason JW. Low urinary cortisol excretion in patients with post-traumatic stress disorder. J. Nerv. Ment. Dis. 1990;178:366–369
  50. Yehuda R, Southwick SM, Krystal JH, Bremner D, Charney DS, Mason JW. Enhanced suppression of cortisol following dexamethasone administration in post-traumatic stress disorder. Am. J. Psychiatry. 1993;150:83–86
  51. Yehuda R, Boisoneau D, Lowy MT, Giller EL. Dose-response changes in plasma cortisol and lymphocyte glucocorticoid receptors following dexamethasone administration in combat veterans with and without post-traumatic stress disorder. Arch. Gen. Psychiatry. 1995;52:583–593
  52. Yehuda R, Teicher MH, Trestman RL, Levengood RA, Siever LJ. Cortisol regulation in post-traumatic stress disorder and major depression: a chronobiological analysis. Biol. Psychiatry. 1996;40:79–88
  53. Yehuda R, Halligan SL, Grossman R, Golier JA, Wong C. The cortisol and glucocorticoid receptor response to low dose dexamethasone administration in aging combat veterans and holocaust survivors with and without post-traumatic stress disorder. Biol. Psychiatry. 2002;52:393–403

PII: S0165-0327(03)00260-X

doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2003.09.012

Journal of Affective Disorders
Volume 82, Issue 1 , Pages 53-59 , 1 October 2004