Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Search research articles

Related Experiment Videos

Endogenous concentrations of DHEA and DHEA-S decrease with remission of depression in older adults.

T J Fabian¹, M A Dew, B G Pollock

¹Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmacy, University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15261, USA.

Biological Psychiatry

|November 27, 2001

Summary

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Effect of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex structural measures on neuroplasticity and response to paired-associative stimulation in Alzheimer's dementia.

Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences·2024

Same author

Scaling Up Maternal Mental healthcare by Increasing access to Treatment (SUMMIT) through non-specialist providers and telemedicine: a study protocol for a non-inferiority randomized controlled trial.

Trials·2021

Same author

Getting to precision psychopharmacology: Combining clinical and genetic information to predict fat gain from aripiprazole.

Journal of psychiatric research·2019

Same author

Using an Integrated Care Pathway for Late-Life Schizophrenia Improves Monitoring of Adverse Effects of Antipsychotics and Reduces Antipsychotic Polypharmacy.

The American journal of geriatric psychiatry : official journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry·2018

Same author

Superior memory performance in healthy individuals with subclinical psychotic symptoms but without genetic load for schizophrenia.

Schizophrenia research. Cognition·2018

Same author

Stabilization treatment of remitted psychotic depression: the STOP-PD study.

Acta psychiatrica Scandinavica·2018

Successful depression treatment in older adults correlated with lower dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and DHEA-S levels. These hormonal changes, not drug effects, appear linked to depression remission and improved functioning.

Area of Science:

Neuroendocrinology
Geriatric Psychiatry
Pharmacological Research

Background:

Limited research exists on dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and DHEA-S in depression.
This study investigates DHEA, DHEA-S, and cortisol levels in late-life depression treatment.

Purpose of the Study:

To evaluate the impact of successful pharmacological treatment on DHEA, DHEA-S, and cortisol concentrations in elderly depressed patients.
To differentiate between drug effects and remission-related changes in steroid hormone levels.

Main Methods:

Measured endogenous DHEA, DHEA-S, and cortisol in elderly controls (n=16) and depressed patients (n=60) who either remitted (n=44) or did not remit (n=16).
Patients received 12 weeks of nortriptyline or paroxetine treatment.
Hormone levels were assessed at baseline (week 0) and week 12.

Related Experiment Videos

Main Results:

Remitters showed significant decreases in DHEA (p=.002) and DHEA-S (p=.0001) by week 12.
No significant changes in DHEA or DHEA-S were observed in non-remitters or controls.
Cortisol levels decreased in both remitters and non-remitters, but not significantly.
Hormone level decreases correlated with improved mood and functioning in remitters.

Conclusions:

The observed decrease in DHEA and DHEA-S is likely associated with depression remission, not a direct drug effect.
These findings suggest a potential role for DHEA and DHEA-S in the pathophysiology or recovery from late-life depression.