Reversal of increased arterial stiffness in severely depressed women after 6-week antidepressant treatment.
BACKGROUND
Increased arterial stiffness (AS) might be one significant acute mediator of the well-attested association between female depression and cardiovascular disease.


METHODS
We tested this hypothesis in an inpatient sample of 20 drug-free women undergoing a new clinically severe major depressive episode of recent onset with an adequately matched mentally healthy control group. Patients' clinical (Hamilton Depression Rating Scale) and vascular (Pulse-Wave-Velocity, PWV) assessments were performed both before the initiation and after the completion of their six-week antidepressant treatment.


RESULTS
Although initially patients exhibited significantly higher PWV values than controls, this was decreased and reached comparable levels to controls after treatment completion. Moreover, full-responders exhibited significantly greater vascular improvement than their partial-responders counterparts and the magnitude of their amelioration was strongly associated with the magnitude of their clinical improvement.


CONCLUSIONS
Our sample-size was small and patients' follow-up short.


CONCLUSIONS
Our findings provide support to the hypothesis that current severe major depressive episode in women leads acutely to aggravation of arterial stiffness, reversible however upon timely and effective antidepressant treatment.
Oulis
Panagiotis
P
Athens University Medical School, 1st Department of Psychiatry, Eginition Hospital, 11528 Athens, Greece. oulisp@med.uoa.gr
Kouzoupis
Anastasios
A
Kyrkou
Katerina
K
Masdrakis
Vasilios G
VG
Georgiopoulos
George
G
Karapoulios
Evangelos
E
Georgiou
Stellios
S
Karakatsanis
Nikolaos A
NA
Lykka
Maria
M
Papadimitriou
George N
GN
Papamichael
Christos
C
Stamatelopoulos
Kimon
K
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000928:Antidepressive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001783:Blood Flow Velocity / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000517:prevention & control; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009131:Muscle, Smooth, Vascular / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000503:physiopathology; D014655:Vascular Resistance / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology
D000928:Antidepressive Agents