title: Thyrotropin serum concentrations in healthy volunteers are associated with depression-related personality traits.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Alterations of the hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid system at the hypophyseal level have been described in affective disorders. The NEO Five-Factor Inventory is a widely used instrument, which assesses neuroticism, a strong marker for vulnerability to depression.
  
  
  METHODS
  Endogenous serum concentrations of thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), free T3 and free T4 were measured and the NEO Five-Factor Inventory was performed in 121 healthy unrelated volunteers (51 male, 70 female; median age: 23 years, range from 17 to 71).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The TSH serum concentrations showed a median of 1.35 mU/l with a range from 0.1 to 4.0. The free T3 serum concentrations were 5.2 +/- 0.7 pmol/l (mean +/- SD), and the free T4 concentrations 16.5 +/- 2.4 pmol/l (mean +/- SD). The power of 0.4 of the TSH serum concentration and the logarithm of the depression-related factor neuroticism had a bivariate normal distribution and were negatively correlated (r = -0.337, p = 0.0002).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Low TSH levels in healthy humans might be linked to an increased risk to develop depression.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Frey
authors.forename: Angelika
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lampert
authors.forename: Klaus
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Dietz
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Striebich
authors.forename: Christoph
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Locher
authors.forename: Olga
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Fedorenko
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Möhle
authors.forename: Jürgen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gallinat
authors.forename: Florian
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Lang
authors.forename: Undine E
authors.initials: UE
authors.lastname: Lang
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003863:Depression / Q000097:blood* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010551:Personality; D010555:Personality Inventory; D012044:Regression Analysis; D013972:Thyrotropin / Q000097:blood*; D013974:Thyroxine / Q000097:blood; D014284:Triiodothyronine / Q000097:blood
chemical_list: D014284:Triiodothyronine; D013972:Thyrotropin; D013974:Thyroxine