Dehydroepiandrosterone Sulfate Level Varies Nonlinearly with Symptom Severity in Major Depressive Disorder
- Authors
- Uh, Dasom; Jeong, Hyun-Ghang; Choi, Kwang-Yeon; Oh, So-Young; Lee, Suji; Kim, Seung-Hyun; Joe, Sook-Haeng
- Issue Date
- 5월-2017
- Publisher
- KOREAN COLL NEUROPSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY
- Keywords
- Dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate; Depression; Differential diagnosis; Neuroendocrinology
- Citation
- CLINICAL PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY AND NEUROSCIENCE, v.15, no.2, pp.163 - 169
- Indexed
- SCIE
SCOPUS
KCI
- Journal Title
- CLINICAL PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY AND NEUROSCIENCE
- Volume
- 15
- Number
- 2
- Start Page
- 163
- End Page
- 169
- URI
- https://scholar.korea.ac.kr/handle/2021.sw.korea/83515
- DOI
- 10.9758/cpn.2017.15.2.163
- ISSN
- 1738-1088
- Abstract
- Objective: The pathophysiology of major depressive disorder (MDD) is still not well understood. Conflicting results for surrogate biomarkers in MDD have been reported, which might be a consequence of the heterogeneity of MDD patients. Therefore, we aim to investigate how the severity of depression and various symptom domains are related to the levels of dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEA-s) in MDD patients. Methods: We recruited 117 subjects from a general practice. Depressive symptoms were assessed using the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). Depressive symptoms were divided into three subdomains according to BDI items; somatic symptoms, guilt and failure, and mood and inhibition. Results: In subjects with very-mild-to-moderate depression, the DHEA-s level increased as BDI score did. However, the DHEA-s levels in the subjects with severe depression were significantly lower than in subjects with moderate depression (p=0.003). DHEA-s level was correlated with the BDI subscore for guilt and failure in very-mild-to-moderate depression (r=0.365, p=0.006). Conclusion: The DHEA-s level appears to be indicative of MDD severity with respect to depressive symptoms, especially regarding guilt and failure. Our findings suggest that the upregulation of DHEA-s may be a part of a compensatory process in very-mild-to-moderate depression, and the failure of this compensation mechanism may underlie the development of severe depression.
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