BONE-DENSITY MEASUREMENT IN MAJOR DEPRESSION

1. Disturbances in cortisol secretory patterns and excessive secretion of cortisol after a variety of neuroendocrine stimulation tests indic ate excessive activity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical ax is in depression. 2. Peripheral indicators of hypercortisolemia have a lso been observed leg. enlarged adrenal glands, glucocorticoid insensi tivity and insulin intolerance). 3. Excessive cortisol production may also result in altered bone metabolism and bone architecture, and a re cent study by Michelson et al. (1996) found slightly lower bone densit y in depressed women with hypercortioluria versus healthy controls. 4. In this study, the authors examined bone mineral density (BMD) using dual energy radiographic absorptometry (DEXA) technique in 6 depressed patients (3 with and 3 without hypercortisoluria) with a mean (+/-SD) age of 41+/-13 years, and in 5 healthy, controls with mean age 38+/-4 years), 5. DEXA images of the lumbar vertebrae (L1 to L4) for BMD wer e acquired over a 5-minute interval. 6. Overall, the authors observed no difference in mean BMD values between patients and controls, nor we re differences observed between patients with and without hypercortiol uria.