Thyroid hormone levels before unsuccessful antidepressant therapy are associated with later response to T3 augmentation

• Published in: Psychiatry research Vol. 69; no. 2; pp. 203 - 206
• Main Authors: Sokolov, Stephen T.H., Levitt, Anthony J., Joffe, Russell T.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Shannon Elsevier Ireland Ltd 24.03.1997; Elsevier
• Subjects: Adult; Antidepressive Agents - administration & dosage; Antidepressive Agents - therapeutic use; Biological and medical sciences; Combination therapy; Depressive Disorder - blood; Depressive Disorder - drug therapy; Depressive Disorder - physiopathology; Depressive disorders; Desipramine - administration & dosage; Desipramine - therapeutic use; Drug Therapy, Combination; Female; Humans; Male; Medical sciences; Neuropharmacology; Pharmacology. Drug treatments; Psychoanaleptics: cns stimulant, antidepressant agent, nootropic agent, mood stabilizer..., (alzheimer disease); Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopharmacology; Thyroid hormones; Thyroid Hormones - blood; Treatment Failure; Triiodothyronine - therapeutic use; Combination therapy; Depressive disorders; Thyroid hormones; Human; Mood disorder; Drug combination; Desipramine; Psychotropic; Treatment efficiency; Biological marker; TSH; Depression; Glycoprotein hormone; Tricyclic compound; Chemotherapy; Treatment; Adenohypophyseal hormone; Thyroxine; Antidepressant agent; Thyroid hormone; Triiodothyronine
• ISSN: 0165-1781; 1872-7123
• DOI: 10.1016/S0165-1781(96)02941-1

Thyroid function was measured in 24 patients before antidepressant treatment, and following failure of acute desipramine treatment but before triiodothyronine (T3) augmentation. While all measures of thyroid function were within the euthyroid range, eventual T3 augmentation responders were found to have, prior to any antidepressant treatment, lower levels of TSH and higher levels of thyroxine (T4) and free thyroxine index (FTI) than non-responders. This suggests that T3 augmentation may be of particular importance in subjects with comparatively elevated levels of serum FTI.