Season of birth, clinical manifestations and Dexamethasone Suppression Test in unipolar major depression.
Season of birth, clinical manifestations and Dexamethasone Suppression Test in unipolar major depression.
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DOI：
10.1186/1744-859x-6-20
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发表时间：
2007-08-03
影响因子：
3.7
通讯作者：
Ierodiakonou, Charalambos
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Fountoulakis, Konstantinos N;Iacovides, Apostolos;Ierodiakonou, Charalambos
背景：文献报道表明，出生季节可能构成重大精神障碍发展的危险因素，可能是因为在妊娠中期环境因素的影响。本论文的目的是研究出生季节与单极重性抑郁症当前临床症状的可能关系。方法：研究样本包括45例DSM-IV重度抑郁症患者和90例匹配的对照组。采用SCAN v. 2.0、汉密尔顿抑郁评定量表（HDRS）和汉密尔顿焦虑量表（HAS）进行症状评估，采用1mg地塞米松抑制试验（DST）对患者进行亚分类。结果：抑郁症患者总体上在出生季节与对照组没有差异。然而，春季出生的患者表现出较高的HDRS，而夏季出生的患者表现出最低的HAS评分。DST非抑制者几乎全部（90%）可能在秋季和冬季出生。没有发现出生季节对当前自杀意念或企图的严重程度有影响。讨论：目前的研究是该研究领域首次使用现代和严格的诊断方法和生物标记（DST）对患者进行分类。它的缺点是缺乏关于对照组DST的数据和相对较小的患者样本。结果证实了出生季节对患有特定类型抑郁症的患者的影响。
BACKGROUND: Reports in the literature suggest that the season of birth might constitute a risk factor for the development of a major psychiatric disorder, possibly because of the effect environmental factors have during the second trimester of gestation. The aim of the current paper was to study the possible relationship of the season of birth and current clinical symptoms in unipolar major depression.METHODS: The study sample included 45 DSM-IV major depressive patients and 90 matched controls. The SCAN v. 2.0, Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS) and Hamilton Anxiety Scale (HAS) were used to assess symptomatology, and the 1 mg Dexamethasone Suppression Test (DST) was used to subcategorize patients.RESULTS: Depressed patients as a whole did not show differences in birth season from controls. However, those patients born during the spring manifested higher HDRS while those born during the summer manifested the lowest HAS scores. DST non-suppressors were almost exclusively (90%) likely to be born during autumn and winter. No effect from the season of birth was found concerning the current severity of suicidal ideation or attempts.DISCUSSION: The current study is the first in this area of research using modern and rigid diagnostic methodology and a biological marker (DST) to categorize patients. Its disadvantages are the lack of data concerning DST in controls and a relatively small size of patient sample. The results confirm the effect of seasonality of birth on patients suffering from specific types of depression.