Disease relevance of Depression

• OBJECTIVE: To determine the association of depressive symptoms with HIV-related mortality and decline in CD4 lymphocyte counts among women with HIV [1].
• PURPOSE: To compare the effect of adjuvant endocrine therapies with and without chemotherapy on physical symptoms, anxiety, and depressive symptoms in premenopausal women with breast cancer in a randomized clinical trial (the Zoladex in Premenopausal Patients trial) [2].
• RESULTS: The patients with bulimia showed a correlation between lower left anterolateral prefrontal regional cerebral glucose metabolism and greater depressive symptoms [3].
• PURPOSE: We sought to determine whether propranolol has adverse effects on cognitive function, depressive symptoms, and sexual function in patients treated for diastolic hypertension [4].
• After remission of depressive symptoms, weight gain for patients taking fluoxetine for longer periods is not different from that for patients taking placebo and is most likely related to recovery from depression [5].

Psychiatry related information on Depression

• CONCLUSIONS: Paroxetine showed moderate benefit for depressive symptoms and mental health function in elderly patients with dysthymia and more severely impaired elderly patients with minor depression [6].
• BACKGROUND: The temporal relationship between the appearance of depressive symptoms and the clinical onset of dementia and Alzheimer disease was evaluated in a community sample [7].
• Growth hormone and prolactin response to apomorphine in schizophrenia and the major affective disorders. Relation to duration of illness and depressive symptoms [8].
• CONCLUSIONS: Fluoxetine is effective in reducing the depressive symptoms and the alcohol consumption of patients with comorbid major depressive disorder and alcohol dependence [9].
• Both tryptophan depletion and catecholamine depletion, compared with sham depletion, induced a robust increase (P<.001, repeated-measures analysis of variance) in depressive symptoms as measured with the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, Seasonal Affective Disorder Version [10].

High impact information on Depression

• Quality-of-life and depressive symptoms in postmenopausal women after receiving hormone therapy: results from the Heart and Estrogen/Progestin Replacement Study (HERS) trial [11].
• CONCLUSIONS: The SSRI antidepressants paroxetine, fluoxetine, and sertraline were similar in effectiveness for depressive symptoms as well as multiple domains of health-related quality of life over the entire 9 months of this trial [12].
• Relapse of depressive symptoms after discontinuing sertraline [13].
• At follow-up, noncarriers of BRCA1 mutations showed statistically significant reductions in depressive symptoms and functional impairment compared with carriers and nontested individuals [14].
• INTERPRETATION: We conclude that rapid lowering of brain serotonin function can precipitate clinical depressive symptoms in well, untreated individuals who are vulnerable to major depressive disorder [15].

Chemical compound and disease context of Depression

• Depressive symptoms and cholesterol-lowering drugs [16].
• After drinking the tryptophan-free mixture, ten of the 15 women experienced temporary but clinically significant depressive symptoms [15].
• The efficacy of pimozide (a dopamine antagonist neuroleptic), lithium, and a combination of the two was compared with that of placebo in a 4 week trial in 120 functionally psychotic patients each of whom was assessed for psychotic symptoms, manic symptoms, and depressive symptoms [17].
• Depressive symptoms in hypercholesterolaemic patients treated with pravastatin [18].
• Two patients also showed a significant but less consistent amelioration of other depressive symptoms during DDAVP treatment [19].
• Results of regression analyses showed that antenatal exposure to maternal anxiety at 12-22 wp was in both sexes associated with a high, flattened cortisol day-time profile (P=0.0463) which, in female adolescents only, was associated with depressive symptoms (P=0.0077) [20].

Biological context of Depression

• In the present investigation, the effects of desipramine (N = 11) and desipramine-yohimbine (N = 10) treatment on depressive symptoms, norepinephrine turnover, and blood pressure were determined in patients with major depression who had a history of nonresponse to standard antidepressant treatments [21].
• We hypothesized that bone formation would increase and depressive symptoms and spatial cognition would improve with short-term physiological testosterone administration [22].
• BACKGROUND: The objective of this study was to elucidate the associations of dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEA-S) levels and depressive symptoms in African American and Caucasian women in the late reproductive years, a transitional age zone preceding the perimenopause, in which ovarian aging and associated endocrine changes begin [23].
• At baseline, free testosterone correlated with L4 bone density (r = 0.51, P < 0.001), body mass index (r = 0.39, P = 0.02), depressive symptoms (r = -0.44, P = 0.02), and spatial cognition (r = 0.45, P = 0.04) [22].
• We report on 5-HT1A, 5-HT1D, and 5-HT2 binding sites in 23 control subjects and 18 suicide victims subdivided according to the method of death and the previous existence of depressive symptoms [24].

Anatomical context of Depression

• In MA abusers, self-reports of depressive symptoms covaried positively with relative glucose metabolism in limbic regions (eg, perigenual anterior cingulate gyrus and amygdala) and ratings of state and trait anxiety covaried negatively with relative activity in the anterior cingulate cortex and left insula [25].
• Major depressive disorder, alcoholism, and reduced natural killer cell cytotoxicity. Role of severity of depressive symptoms and alcohol consumption [26].
• Elevated activity in the right caudate may be a marker of responsiveness to antiobsessional treatment, while lower right amygdala activity and higher midline prefrontal activity may be required for response of depressive symptoms to treatment [27].
• We randomized 40 individuals with depressive symptoms who were taking a stable dose of levothyroxine for treatment of hypothyroidism (excluding those who underwent thyroidectomy or radioactive iodine ablation of the thyroid) to receive T(4) plus placebo or the combination of T(4) plus T(3) in a double-blind manner for 15 wk [28].
• CONCLUSION: Contributions from a more selective mesolimbic dopaminergic profile, D1 or D4 activity, the release of dopamine/norepinephrine in the prefrontal cortex, and/or serotonin 5-HT2A,C antagonism may explain the differential benefit seen with OLZ in the treatment of comorbid anxious and depressive symptoms in schizophrenia [29].

Gene context of Depression

• Our findings suggest that BDNF may be a susceptibility gene for MDD and schizophrenia-in particular, in a subgroup of patients with schizophrenia with a lifetime history of depressive symptoms [30].
• There is some evidence that treatment with interleukin-2 (IL-2) and interferon-alpha (IFNalpha) frequently induces depressive symptoms and activation of the inflammatory response system (IRS) [31].
• In these patients, the intensity of depressive symptoms at endpoint was positively correlated with the increases measured in serum levels of IL-10 between baseline and endpoint [32].
• METHODS: Depressive symptoms were recorded, clinician ratings of disease activity were made, and blood was drawn for RA patients and controls at baseline and during a designated stressful week [33].
• Assuming such impaired receptor function, then central secretion of CRH would be enhanced in many brain areas, which would account for a variety of depressive symptoms [34].

Analytical, diagnostic and therapeutic context of Depression

• Chronic depressive symptoms were also associated with significantly greater decline in CD4 cell counts after controlling for other variables in the model, especially among women with baseline CD4 cell counts of less than 500 x 10(6)/L and baseline viral load greater than 10 000 copies/microL [1].
• Participants with more depressive symptoms had higher levels of IL-6 before and after vaccination than did those who reported fewer symptoms; moreover, individuals reporting more depressive symptoms also showed an increase in plasma IL-6 levels 2 weeks later, while there was little change in IL-6 levels among those reporting few or no symptoms [35].
• Fatigue was measured with the Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory (MFI-20) and HRQOL with a validated Dutch version of the RAND 36-Item Health Survey. We evaluated the impact of fatigue on HRQOL by multiple linear regression analyses taking into account RA-related pain and depressive symptoms [36].
• There were no differences in the severity of depressive symptoms between the isotretinoin and antibiotic treatment groups before or after treatment [37].
• Future longitudinal studies are needed to determine whether elevations in norepinephrine contribute to adverse cardiac outcomes in patients with depressive symptoms [38].

References