Patients who met provincial criteria for atypical depression were contrasted with a group of patients who met RDC criteria for endogenous depression and a group of normal controls on a standard series of sleep variables. Atypical depressives were differentiated from normal controls by a shortened REMP latency. They did not, however, appear to have the sleep continuity disturbance exhibited by endogenous depressives. This preliminary work suggests that atypical depressives may have a unique pattern of sleep variables consisting of REM abnormalities without continuity disturbance. If this pattern is observed in additional studies, it would add to the validity of considering atypical depression a subtype of unipolar depressive illness.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Growth hormone response to desmethylimipramine in depressed and suicidal adolescents.

Desipramine 75 mg i.m. was given in the morning to 20 adolescents with major depressive disorder and 23 normal controls. Depressed adolescents secreted significantly less growth hormone (GH) over the next 2 h than did normal adolescents, although a substantial proportion of the differences were accounted for by the depressed adolescents who had a specific suicidal plan or attempt during the episode. Severity of depression or the presence of other depressive symptoms did not predict GH secretion within the depressed group. Age, sex and maturational factors in the control of GH are discussed. It is concluded that these differences in GH secretion probably reflect differences in CNS beta-adrenergic and/or serotonergic function. Suicidality and depression may have different psychobiological correlates in adolescents.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

EEG sleep of young adults with major depression: a controlled study.

The EEG sleep of 75 subjects aged 16-25 years was studied. Thirty-eight were in an episode of RDC major depression, and 37 were normal controls. Only one sleep continuity measure differed between the two groups: sleep latency was significantly longer in the depressive group. REM period latencies and other sleep variables did not differ between the groups. Subgroup analyses, within the depressed group with respect to inpatient status, revealed significantly higher REM density (P less than 0.03) and a marginally shortened REM period latency (P less than 0.07) among the inpatient depressives. Subgroup analysis across suicidal ratings revealed a significantly higher REM density (P less than 0.04) among suicidal depressives. Severity estimates of depression did not correlate with sleep findings. These results parallel another recent report on adolescent depressed subjects, suggesting that inpatient and/or suicidal status is an important variable in the expression of EEG sleep abnormalities in the adolescent/young adult age group.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Stimulatory tests of growth hormone secretion in prepubertal major depression: depressed versus normal children.

OBJECTIVE: Blunted stimulation of growth hormone (GH) secretion after pharmacological stimuli has been linked to depressive and anxiety disorders throughout the life span. This study sought to better characterize this dysregulation in prepubertal depression. METHOD: GH regulation was compared in 38 medically healthy prepubertal children with current major depressive disorder and 19 control children who were medically and psychiatrically healthy. The study evaluated GH stimulatory responses to three pharmacological challenge agents: (1) insulin-induced hypoglycemia, using 0.1 IU/kg intravenous regular insulin; (2) 1.3 micrograms/kg intravenous clonidine; and (3) 1.0 microgram/kg intravenous human growth hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH). RESULTS: The results provide replication and extension of earlier findings. GH responses to insulin-induced hypoglycemia and to GHRH stimulation were blunted in depressed children compared to the normal controls. Clonidine stimulation results yielded a similar picture but did not reach statistical significance. CONCLUSIONS: Overall these results further strengthen the evidence showing GH dysregulation in childhood depression. However, the blunted GH response seen with GHRH (which reflects pituitary hyporesponsivity) was in contrast to our original hypothesis and has implications regarding the site (or sites) of dysregulation.

Adolescent↗