Hair thyroid hormones concentration in patients with depression changes with disease episodes in female Chinese

Abnormal function of thyroid and deregulation of level of blood thyroid hormones, including triiodothyronine (T3) and thyroxine (T4), have been observed in patients with major depression. Nevertheless, no consistent conclusion can be drawn from previous reports. Hair hormones reflect average hormones levels in a certain period and have been involved in the studies of psychiatric diseases. However, no research has elucidated the relation between hair thyroid hormones level and depression. In the present study, we explored the correlation between thyroid hormones and major depression by analyzing and comparing the levels of hair thyroid hormones in patients with depression (n=30) and healthy controls (n=30). Our results showed that the levels of hair T3 and T4 were significantly lower in patients with depression in disease episode than that in pre-disease episode or in healthy controls. Moreover, patients with depression in pre-disease episode had a higher hair T4 level than healthy controls. No significant correlation was observed between hair T3 or T4 levels and the Hamilton depression rating scale and Hamilton anxiety rating scale scores. Our results indicate that hair thyroid hormones levels change with the episodes of depressions, which may be helpful for pathological studies of depression.