Study of the Hypothalmic-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) Axis and Its Role in Major Depression

Launched by NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF MENTAL HEALTH (NIMH) · Dec 9, 2002

Keywords

ClinConnect Summary

Major depression represents a major public health problem worldwide and in the U.S. Fifteen percent of the U.S. population has depression at some point in life (40 million individuals), with a female to male ratio 5:2. Presently, 6-8% of all outpatients in primary care meet diagnostic criteria for major depression. Fifteen percent of untreated depressed patients commit suicide-most suicides have depression. In the U.S., in the year 2020 suicide will be the 10th cause of death. In addition to mortality due to suicide, major depression is associated with severe morbidity, that includes decrea...

Gender

ALL

Eligibility criteria

• • Patients with primary affective disorder (major depression), chronic fatigue syndrome, and control subjects.
• • Psychiatric diagnosis will be made by means of the Structured Clinical Diagnosis for DSM-III-R (SCID), performed by senior experienced clinicians.
• Exclusion Criteria:
• • Subjects on chronic medications, which can not be washed out in one month.
• • Subjects with any serious medical illnesses which have been excluded.
• • Women who are pregnant, trying to become pregnant or sexually active and not using effective contraception.
• • Patients with HIV-1 infection.
• • Patients on chronic lithium therapy.
• • Subjects unable to discontinue alcohol, tobacco, or illegal drugs.