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Abstract
The authors examined thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) stimulation testing in the
neuroendocrine evaluation of DSM-III major depressive disorder in 26 consecutive medication-free,
medically healthy patients meeting a primary DSM-III diagnosis of axis II personality
disorder. Thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) responses to TRH challenge were not significantly
different between patients with or without major depression at time of study, or between
patients with or without a life history of major affective disorder. Further, TSH
responses to TRH among 11 healthy male nonpsychiatric controls were not significantly
different from those in patients with personality disorders. Comparison of those patients
with blunted TSH responses (<7.0 μU/ml) versus those without blunted response (≤7.0
μU/ml) also did not reveal a significant difference. In addition, the TSH response
to TRH did not correlate with dimensional assessments of state or trait depression,
anxiety, or with past history of suicide attempt or alcohol abuse. These data suggest
that TRH stimulation testing has limited utility in the evaluation of major depression
or other relevant affective states/traits in personality-disordered patients. Affective
symptoms in personality-disordered patients do not seem to be associated with dysregulation
of the hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid axis.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Received in revised form:
May 12,
1993
Received:
November 11,
1992
Identification
Copyright
© 1993 Published by Elsevier Inc.