Short Telomeres in Depression and the General Population Are Associated with a Hypocortisolemic State

Wikgren, Mikael; Maripuu, Martin; Karlsson, Thomas; Nordfjäll, Katarina; Bergdahl, Jan; Hultdin, Johan; Del-Favero, Jurgen; Roos, Göran; Nilsson, Lars-Göran; Adolfsson, Rolf; Norrback, Karl-Fredrik

doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2011.09.015

« Previous Next »Biological Psychiatry
Volume 71, Issue 4 , Pages 294-300, 15 February 2012

Short Telomeres in Depression and the General Population Are Associated with a Hypocortisolemic State

Mikael Wikgren
- Division of Psychiatry, Department of Clinical Sciences, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden
- Address correspondence to Mikael Wikgren, M.Sc., Division of Psychiatry, Department of Clinical Sciences, Umeå University, SE-901 87 Umeå, Sweden
Martin Maripuu
- Division of Psychiatry, Department of Clinical Sciences, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden
Thomas Karlsson
- Department of Behavioral Sciences and Learning, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden
Katarina Nordfjäll
- Division of Pathology, Department of Medical Biosciences, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden
Jan Bergdahl
- Department of Psychology, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden
Johan Hultdin
- Division of Clinical Chemistry, Department of Medical Biosciences, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden
Jurgen Del-Favero
- Applied Molecular Genomics Group, Department of Molecular Genetics, VIB, Antwerp, Belgium
- University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium
Göran Roos
- Division of Pathology, Department of Medical Biosciences, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden
Lars-Göran Nilsson
- Department of Psychology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
Rolf Adolfsson
- Division of Psychiatry, Department of Clinical Sciences, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden
Karl-Fredrik Norrback
- Division of Psychiatry, Department of Clinical Sciences, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden

Received 9 July 2011; received in revised form 2 September 2011; accepted 20 September 2011. published online 07 November 2011.

Background

The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis plays a central role in stress regulation, and leukocyte telomere length (TL) has been suggested to represent a cumulative measure of stress. Depression is intimately related with stress and frequently exhibits a dysregulated HPA axis. We aimed to study the relationships between TL and biological and psychological facets of stress in recurrent major depressive disorder and controls.

Methods

Leukocyte TL was measured in 91 subjects with recurrent major depressive disorder and 451 control subjects. Stress was assessed from both a biological perspective, by assessing HPA axis function with a weight-adjusted very-low-dose dexamethasone suppression test (DST), and a psychological perspective, with self-report questionnaires.

Results

TL was shorter among patients compared with control subjects (277 base pairs, p = .001). Overall, short TL was associated with a hypocortisolemic state (low post-DST cortisol and high percentage of cortisol reduction after the DST) among both patients and control subjects but more pronounced among patients. This state, which was overrepresented among patients, was characterized by high familial loading of affective disorders among patients (p = .001) and high C-reactive protein levels among control subjects (p = .040). TL was also inversely associated with stress measured with the Perceived Stress Questionnaire (r_s = −.258, p = .003).

Conclusions

Short TL is associated with depression and hypocortisolism. Because hypocortisolism has been shown to develop from chronic stress exposure, our findings corroborate the concept of TL as a cumulative measure of stress and provide novel insights into the detrimental role of stress in depressive illness and the general population.

Key Words: Cortisol , hypocortisolism , hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis , major depressive disorder , stress , telomere length