TY - JOUR
T1 - Cortisol levels in unmedicated patients with unipolar and bipolar major depression using hair and saliva specimens
AU - Herane-Vives, Andrés
AU - Arnone, Danilo
AU - de Angel, Valeria
AU - Papadopoulos, Andrew
AU - Wise, Toby
AU - Alameda, Luis
AU - Chua, Kia Chong
AU - Young, Allan H.
AU - Cleare, Anthony J.
N1 - Funding Information:
AHV has received travel grants from Janssen-Cilag. AJC has in the last three years received honoraria for speaking from Lundbeck; honoraria for consulting from Livanova, Lundbeck and Janssen; sponsorship for conference attendance from Janssen; and research grant support from the Medical Research Council (UK), Wellcome Trust (UK), the National Institute for Health Research (UK) and Protexin Probiotics. AHY has given paid lectures and sits on advisory boards for all major pharmaceutical companies with drugs used in affective and related disorders. DA has received travel grants from Janssen-Cilag and Servier. No other disclosures were reported.
Funding Information:
The authors would like to thank the staff of the NIHR/Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Facility at King’s College Hospital, the Clínica Psiquíatrica Universitaria and OAIC of University of Chile, Dean Broadhurst, and Michael Kelly of the MHRN for their support in the conduct of the study. We are grateful to Mrs Irene Papadopoulos for performing the saliva cortisol Immunoassays. We thank all participants of this study for their support. This study represents independent research part funded by the NIHR/Wellcome Trust, King’s Clinical Research Facility and the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and King’s College London. The views expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NHS.
Funding Information:
The authors would like to thank the staff of the NIHR/Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Facility at King’s College Hospital, the Clínica Psiquíatrica Universitaria and OAIC of University of Chile, Dean Broadhurst, and Michael Kelly of the MHRN for their support in the conduct of the study. We are grateful to Mrs Irene Papadopoulos for performing the saliva cortisol Immunoassays. We thank all participants of this study for their support. This study represents independent research part funded by the NIHR/Wellcome Trust, King’s Clinical Research Facility and the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and King’s College London. The views expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NHS.
Funding Information:
This research was funded by departmental funds generated by AJC and AHY, by charity and departmental funds obtained by AHV and start up funds from the Academy of Medical Sciences to DA (Ref. AMS-SGCL8). AHV was supported by a Chilean Bicentennial Fund Scholarship from the Bicentennial Fund for Human Capital Development (Becas Chile). AJC, TW and AHY are supported by the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and King’s College London. The funders had no role in the design and conduct of the study, collection, management, analysis and interpretation of the data, preparation, review, approval of the manuscript and decision to submit the manuscript for publication. Acknowledgements
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020, The Author(s).
PY - 2020/12/1
Y1 - 2020/12/1
N2 - Background: Differentiating between unipolar and bipolar depression can be clinically challenging, especially at first presentation. Patterns of cortisol secretion could aid diagnostic discrimination in affective disorders although there has been little comparative research to date. In this study, we investigated acute (saliva) and chronic (hair) cortisol levels concurrently in unmedicated unipolar and bipolar disorders by using conventional diagnostic criteria and self-report measures. Methods: Patients with unipolar and bipolar major depression and healthy controls were recruited and assessed. Cortisol levels were extracted from saliva and hair specimens. Depressive features were investigated according to diagnostic groups and with a continuous self-report measure of bipolarity using the Hypomania Checklist (HCL-33). Results: Whilst a trend towards a reduction in the total daily salivary cortisol output—area under the curve with respect to the ground (AUCg)—was detected in depressive disorders across diagnosis, the self-administrated bipolarity index suggested that an increase in bipolarity symptoms predicted lower cortisol levels using AUCg. Chronic cortisol measurement did not discriminate unipolar from bipolar depression. Conclusion: Results suggested that whilst a low total daily salivary cortisol output (AUCg) might be associated with depressive symptoms, a self-reported measure of bipolarity predicts lower daily cortisol output.
AB - Background: Differentiating between unipolar and bipolar depression can be clinically challenging, especially at first presentation. Patterns of cortisol secretion could aid diagnostic discrimination in affective disorders although there has been little comparative research to date. In this study, we investigated acute (saliva) and chronic (hair) cortisol levels concurrently in unmedicated unipolar and bipolar disorders by using conventional diagnostic criteria and self-report measures. Methods: Patients with unipolar and bipolar major depression and healthy controls were recruited and assessed. Cortisol levels were extracted from saliva and hair specimens. Depressive features were investigated according to diagnostic groups and with a continuous self-report measure of bipolarity using the Hypomania Checklist (HCL-33). Results: Whilst a trend towards a reduction in the total daily salivary cortisol output—area under the curve with respect to the ground (AUCg)—was detected in depressive disorders across diagnosis, the self-administrated bipolarity index suggested that an increase in bipolarity symptoms predicted lower cortisol levels using AUCg. Chronic cortisol measurement did not discriminate unipolar from bipolar depression. Conclusion: Results suggested that whilst a low total daily salivary cortisol output (AUCg) might be associated with depressive symptoms, a self-reported measure of bipolarity predicts lower daily cortisol output.
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U2 - 10.1186/s40345-020-0180-x
DO - 10.1186/s40345-020-0180-x
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85081260748
SN - 2194-7511
VL - 8
JO - International Journal of Bipolar Disorders
JF - International Journal of Bipolar Disorders
IS - 1
M1 - 15
ER -