Chronoendocrine assessment of the risk of developing depressive disorders

Chronoepidemiology studies alterations of biologic rhythms with several frequencies as harbingers and possibly determinants of the risk of developing certain diseases. Along these lines, a method for pattern discrimination, the so-called "monotest", involving the leave-one-out technique for the estimation of the PM, is here used in the search for classifiers of personality. By this method, chronoendocrine relations of a DPP are explored in 12 plasma hormones sampled around the clock in 4 seasons on a small number of clinically and psychologically healthy women, 29-36 years of age. Subjects were separated in two groups by scores for DPP of the Mini-Mult, an abbreviated version of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory. Discriminant analysis singles out plasma aldosterone as the primary classifier for DPP in winter. In spring, the best classifiers include 17-OH progesterone and insulin, whereas in the summer the circadian amplitude of 17-OH progesterone classifies best. Finally, the identified classifiers in the fall are DHEA-S, estradiol and estrone. In clinical health, hormones are thus sensitive in ordering people who, according to questionnaires, are at different risk of developing emotional disorders. Results also illustrate the need to consider the intermodulation of circadian and circannual rhythms, whenever endocrine variables are being determined in human plasma.