Use of Bone Biopsy to Better Understand the Causes of Decreased Bone Mineral Density in Depression

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

Keywords

ClinConnect Summary

We have recently found that premenopausal women with past or current depression show clinically significant decrements in bone mineral density in the hip and spine, rendering more than 40% at present risk for osteoporotic fracture. Recent pharmacologic advances provide the opportunity to ameliorate or reverse this clinically significant loss of bone mineral density. Available agents such as bisphosphonates or growth hormone are each preferentially effective in the contexts of increased and decreased bone turnover, respectively. It is currently not known whether the decrease in bone mineral ...

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Eligibility criteria

• • Female patients with primary affective disorder (major depression n=17).
• • Controls must not have psychiatric disorders.
• • Subjects with past or current depression will be studied if bone mineral density in any site in either hip or spine was assessed by DEXA scan to be equal to or greater than 1 1/2 standard deviation below peak bone density.
• • Subjects with psychiatric illness can either be drug free or receiving any FDA approved medication for the treatment of depression, with the exception of valproic acid and carbamazepine, which are known to interfere with intestinal calcium absorption (and hence, can influence bone mineral density), and monoamine oxidase inhibitors, which can interact adversely with fentanyl in the event that it would be given for relief of pain.
• • During the course of the entire study all subjects must abstain from tobacco and alcohol and will be instructed to inform the physicians conducting the research about their use of prescription or non-prescription medication, including birth control pills.
• • Must not have any serious medical illnesses.
• • Must not have current or past, prolonged steroid use.
• • Must not be pregnant.
• • Must not be on anticoagulant medication.
• • Must not be allergic to or have shown adverse reactions to tetracyline, benzodiazepines, fentanyl, or lidocaine.
• • Must not have used aspirin or other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agents in the past week.