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T3 blood levels and treatment outcome in depression
D V Iosifescu1, S Howarth, J E Alpert
1Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA.
Objective:
We examined the correlation between the basal triiodothyronine resin uptake (T3-RU) levels in depressed subjects and the response to anti-depressant treatment.
Method:
We treated with fluoxetine 235 outpatients meeting DSM-IV criteria for major depression. We measured T3 resin uptake (T3-RU) levels before the onset of treatment. The 17-item Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (Ham-D-17) was administered before, during and after the eight weeks of treatment to assess changes in depressive symptoms.
Results:
16 patients (6.8 percent) had low T3-RU levels (range 16.5-21), and 7 patients (3.0 percent) had high T3-RU levels (range 36-38). No relationship was found between T3-RU levels and clinical improvement, defined as either total Ham-D-17 score change or Ham-D-17 score < or = 7 in the last 3 weeks of treatment, even after adjusting for baseline severity of depression.
Conclusion:
Abnormal T3-RU levels are rather uncommon in outpatient depression and do not correlate with the response to antidepressant treatment or lack thereof.