[Hormonal profile of depressed patients]

A series of hormones were radioimmunoassayed in patients with various forms of depressive states. In more than 60% of the patients with endogenic depressions the levels of hormones, particularly of the thyrotropic hormone and T3, as well as their ratios were altered. The same category of patients showed low concentrations of the somatotropic hormone whereas prolactin levels were sharply increased predominantly in patients with depressive-paranoid disorders. A comparative multiparameter study of hormone levels in depressive patients makes it also possible to establish the interrelationship between various endocrine systems.