Dahl R E, Ryan N D, Puig-Antich J, Nguyen N A, al-Shabbout M, Meyer V A, Perel J
Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, PA 15213.
Biol Psychiatry. 1991 Jul 1;30(1):25-36. doi: 10.1016/0006-3223(91)90067-v.
Plasma cortisol levels were determined every 20 min for 24 hr in depressed adolescents (n = 27) meeting research diagnostic criteria (RDC) for major depressive disorder (MDD) and normal controls (n = 32). All subjects were between 12 and 18 years of age, at least Tanner Stage III of sexual development, medically healthy, and medication free at the time of the studies. The results showed that cortisol secretory patterns were very similar between the two groups with the exception that the depressed adolescents showed significantly elevated cortisol levels around sleep onset (a period when cortisol is usually suppressed). Subgroup analyses showed that most of these differences were contributed by the suicidal/inpatient depressed adolescents. The cause of the elevated cortisol during the normally quiescent period warrants further investigation and may be related to other biological disturbances around sleep onset (difficulty initiating sleep, reduced rapid eye movement (REM) latency, and alterations in sleep-stimulated growth hormone secretion).
对符合重性抑郁障碍（MDD）研究诊断标准（RDC）的抑郁青少年（n = 27）和正常对照组（n = 32），在24小时内每隔20分钟测定血浆皮质醇水平。所有受试者年龄在12至18岁之间，性发育至少处于坦纳Ⅲ期，身体健康，且在研究时未服用药物。结果显示，两组之间皮质醇分泌模式非常相似，只是抑郁青少年在睡眠开始时（通常是皮质醇被抑制的时期）皮质醇水平显著升高。亚组分析表明，这些差异大多由有自杀倾向/住院的抑郁青少年造成。在正常静止期皮质醇升高的原因值得进一步研究，可能与睡眠开始时的其他生物紊乱有关（入睡困难、快速眼动（REM）潜伏期缩短以及睡眠刺激生长激素分泌改变）。
