Thyrotropin serum concentrations in healthy volunteers are associated with depression-related personality traits.
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.
Frey
Andreas
A
Department of Physiology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
Lampert
Angelika
A
Dietz
Klaus
K
Striebich
Sarah
S
Locher
Christoph
C
Fedorenko
Olga
O
Möhle
Robert
R
Gallinat
Jürgen
J
Lang
Florian
F
Lang
Undine E
UE
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
D014284:Triiodothyronine; D013972:Thyrotropin; D013974:Thyroxine