The CRH stimulation test in bereaved subjects with and without accompanying depression.
We studied recently bereaved individuals with the corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) stimulation test. Subjects with a bereavement complicated by a depressive illness (n = 9) had significantly higher basal plasma cortisol levels and smaller plasma adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) responses to CRH than either subjects with an uncomplicated bereavement (n = 19) or normal controls (n = 34). Subjects with depressed bereavement showed ACTH responses to CRH similar to those of depressed patients (n = 30). Bereaved subjects who had received psychotropic medications in the past (n = 13), compared with those who had not (n = 15), showed significantly smaller plasma ACTH responses to CRH. Significantly more subjects with bereavement complicated by depression, as compared to subjects whose bereavement was uncomplicated, had a past history of treatment for depression. These results suggest that predisposed individuals may respond to the stress of bereavement with a depressive illness accompanied by dysregulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis.
Roy
A
A
Laboratory of Clinical Studies, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Bethesda, MD 20892.
Gallucci
W
W
Avgerinos
P
P
Linnoila
M
M
Gold
P
P
D000275:Adjustment Disorders / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D000324:Adrenocorticotropic Hormone / Q000097:blood*; D000328:Adult; D003346:Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone; D005260:Female; D006117:Grief; D006801:Humans; D006854:Hydrocortisone / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011581:Psychological Tests
D000324:Adrenocorticotropic Hormone; D003346:Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone; D006854:Hydrocortisone