title: The cortisol awakening response is blunted in psychotherapy inpatients suffering from depression.
abstract: Determining the salivary awakening cortisol response (ACR) is a non-invasive, reliable method to detect changes in the hypothalamus-hypopituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. Although a role of the HPA axis in depression is widely recognized, data on the ACR in depressive patients are still scarce and inconsistent. The present study assessed the ACR in depressed patients admitted for inpatient psychotherapy and a comparison group of other psychiatric diagnoses under the same conditions. The ACR was found to be attenuated in depressed as compared to non-depressed patients. This finding is in contrast to previous studies in healthy subjects or depressed outpatients and suggests a blunted rather than an exacerbated HPA reactivity. Further studies will be needed to disentangle the complex relationship between depression and the ACR.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical School Hannover, Carl-Neuberg-Strasse 1, 30625 Hannover, Germany. t.j.huber@gmx.de
authors.forename: Thomas J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Huber
authors.forename: Katharina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Issa
authors.forename: Gesa
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Schik
authors.forename: Oliver T
authors.initials: OT
authors.lastname: Wolf
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002940:Circadian Rhythm / Q000502:physiology*; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006854:Hydrocortisone / Q000378:metabolism*; D007030:Hypothalamo-Hypophyseal System / Q000378:metabolism / Q000503:physiopathology; D007297:Inpatients; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010913:Pituitary-Adrenal System / Q000378:metabolism / Q000503:physiopathology; D011613:Psychotherapy; D012463:Saliva / Q000378:metabolism; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D014851:Wakefulness / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D006854:Hydrocortisone