Electrodermal activity in relation to basal and postdexamethasone levels of thyroid stimulating hormone and basal levels of thyroid hormones in major depressive patients and healthy subjects

• Published in: Psychiatry research Vol. 47; no. 1; pp. 23 - 36
• Main Authors: Thorell, Lars-Håkan, Kjellman, Bengt F., d'Elia, Giacomo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Shannon Elsevier Ireland Ltd 01.04.1993; Elsevier
• Subjects: Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; affective disorder; Arousal - physiology; Biological and medical sciences; Depression; Depressive Disorder - diagnosis; Depressive Disorder - physiopathology; Depressive Disorder - psychology; Dexamethasone; dexamethasone suppression test; Female; Galvanic Skin Response - physiology; Habituation, Psychophysiologic - physiology; Humans; Hydrocortisone - blood; hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis; hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid axis; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Mood disorders; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Skin conductance; Thyroid Hormones - blood; Thyrotropin - blood; thyroxine; hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis; thyroxine; Skin conductance; dexamethasone suppression test; affective disorder; hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid axis; Human; Mood disorder; Hypothalamohypophysoadrenal axis; Hypothalamohypophysothyroidal axis; Electrodermography; TSH; Depression; Cortisol; Glucocorticoid; Dexamethasone test; Acoustic stimulus; Adrenal hormone; Thyroxine; Electrical conductance; Thyroid hormone; Skin; Hormonal investigation
• ISSN: 0165-1781; 1872-7123
• DOI: 10.1016/0165-1781(93)90052-I

Electrodermal activity in 50 patients with major depression and 50 matched healthy control subjects was related to basal and postdexamethasone changes in levels of thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), basal levels of thyroid hormones, and nocturnal levels of urinary cortisol. Levels of skin conductance and thyroxine were inversely correlated in the patients, but positively correlated in the healthy subjects. Patients with blunted postdexamethasone reduction of TSH showed high rates of nonevoked electrodermal fluctuations, low TSH levels, and elevated nocturnal urinary cortisol levels.