Childhood parental loss and adult hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal function.
BACKGROUND
Several decades of research link childhood parental loss with risk for major depression and other forms of psychopathology. A large body of preclinical work on maternal separation and some recent studies of humans with childhood parental loss have demonstrated alterations of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis function that could predispose to the development of psychiatric disorders.


METHODS
Eighty-eight healthy adults with no current Axis I psychiatric disorder participated in this study. Forty-four participants experienced parental loss during childhood, including 19 with a history of parental death and 25 with a history of prolonged parental separation. The loss group was compared with a matched group of individuals who reported no history of childhood parental separation or childhood maltreatment. Participants completed diagnostic interviews and questionnaires and the dexamethasone/corticotropin-releasing hormone (Dex/CRH) test. Repeated measures general linear models were used to test the effects of parental loss, parental care, gender, and age on the hormone responses to the Dex/CRH test.


RESULTS
Parental loss was associated with increased cortisol responses to the test, particularly in men. The effect of loss was moderated by levels of parental care; participants with parental desertion and very low levels of care had attenuated cortisol responses. Adrenocorticotropic hormone responses to the Dex/CRH test did not differ significantly as a function of parental loss.


CONCLUSIONS
These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that early parental loss induces enduring changes in neuroendocrine function.
Tyrka
Audrey R
AR
Mood Disorders Research Program, Laboratory for Clinical Neuroscience, Butler Hospital, Providence, Rhode Island 02906, USA. Audrey_Tyrka@Brown.edu
Wier
Lauren
L
Price
Lawrence H
LH
Ross
Nicole
N
Anderson
George M
GM
Wilkinson
Charles W
CW
Carpenter
Linda L
LL
D000293:Adolescent; D000324:Adrenocorticotropic Hormone / Q000097:blood*; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D001143:Arousal / Q000502:physiology*; D001601:Bereavement; D002648:Child; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000523:psychology; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003346:Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D003907:Dexamethasone; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006854:Hydrocortisone / Q000097:blood*; D007030:Hypothalamo-Hypophyseal System / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008297:Male; D008426:Maternal Deprivation; D009769:Object Attachment; D010333:Paternal Deprivation; D010552:Personality Assessment; D010913:Pituitary-Adrenal System / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology
D003907:Dexamethasone; D000324:Adrenocorticotropic Hormone; D003346:Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone; D006854:Hydrocortisone