EFFECTS OF GENDER AND DIAGNOSIS ON GROWTH-HORMONE RESPONSE TO CLONIDINE FOR MAJOR DEPRESSION - A LARGE-SCALE MULTICENTER STUDY

Objective: The authors' goal was to establish, in a large multicenter sample of patients classified according to gender and menopausal statu s, if the growth hormone (GH) response to clonidine discriminated pati ents with episodes of major depression from patients with episodes of minor depression. Method: The GH response to intravenous clonidine adm inistration (150 mu) was compared in 71 male and 140 female patients w ith major depressive episodes and 47 male and 53 female patients with minor depressive episodes. These patients were diagnosed according to Research Diagnostic Criteria. Results: Differences in the GH response to clonidine between diagnostic groups occurred only between male pati ents. These results were found in the group as a whole and in each cen ter. The GH responses to clonidine of premenopausal women differed sig nificantly from those of postmenopausal women in each diagnostic group . Conclusions: These results confirm that gender and menopausal status are of the utmost importance in the interpretation of the clonidine G H test.