Research ReportEffects of Early and Recent Adverse Experiences on Adrenal Response to Psychosocial Stress in Depressed Adolescents
Section snippets
Participants
With approval from the institutional review board, 30 adolescents with depression and 25 control subjects were recruited. The depressed adolescents met criteria for major depressive disorder (MDD), with a minimum duration of 4 weeks and a score of 15 on the first 17-items of the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS) (27). Adolescents with a current or prior history of mania, hypomania, substance use disorder symptoms, schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, or autism were excluded from the
Demographic and Clinical Characteristics of the Sample
Demographic and clinical features are outlined in Table 1. The groups did not differ significantly with respect to age, sex, and race/ethnicity. Depressed adolescents scored significantly higher on the BDI and HDRS, but lower on CGAS, than control subjects. Participants with depression scored significantly higher on early-life adversity and recent chronic stress. However, they did not differ significantly on the number of negative life events or magnitude of stress.
Baseline Cortisol Secretion and Cortisol Response to Psychosocial Stress
Serial cortisol secretory
Discussion
Depressed adolescents manifested higher and more prolonged adrenal response to a psychosocial stressor than healthy volunteers. The results suggest that in adolescents, as in children and adults, experiential factors influence HPA regulation (16, 17, 18). The HPA response to the stressor was highest in those who had a combination of early-life adversity and high levels of chronic stress during adolescence (17, 23).
Consistent with findings in humans, animal research has demonstrated that
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