Jarrett D B, Coble P A, Kupfer D J
Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1983 May;40(5):506-11. doi: 10.1001/archpsyc.1983.01790050032004.
Depressed patients commonly have disturbances in their sleep and cortisol secretory patterns. When the sleep-related changes in plasma cortisol concentration were measured in 14 patients with a primary major depressive illness, they differed significantly from the changes measured in 14 age- and sex-matched healthy control subjects. The nadir of the nocturnal plasma cortisol concentration was significantly greater in the group of depressed patients, and the nocturnal increase in the plasma cortisol concentration occurred significantly closer to sleep onset in these patients. The circadian activity within the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis of these depressed patients showed a subtle but significantly disturbed temporal relationship to sleep onset. This reduced time between sleep onset and the nocturnal increase in cortisol secretion suggests a possible biologic correlate of a depressive illness that might be useful as an illness marker in depressed patients.
抑郁症患者通常存在睡眠和皮质醇分泌模式紊乱。在14例原发性重度抑郁症患者中测量与睡眠相关的血浆皮质醇浓度变化时，发现其与14例年龄和性别匹配的健康对照者所测变化有显著差异。抑郁症患者组夜间血浆皮质醇浓度的最低点显著更高，且这些患者血浆皮质醇浓度的夜间升高显著更接近睡眠开始时间。这些抑郁症患者下丘脑 - 垂体 - 肾上腺轴内的昼夜节律活动与睡眠开始呈现出一种细微但显著紊乱的时间关系。睡眠开始至夜间皮质醇分泌增加之间的时间缩短提示抑郁症可能存在一种生物学关联，这可能作为抑郁症患者的一种疾病标志物。
