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Relationship of age to TSH response to TRH in depressed men
Author(s) -
Wahby V. S.,
Ibrahim G. A.,
Giller E. L.,
Martin R. P.,
Saddik F. W.,
Singh S. P.,
Mason J. W.
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
acta psychiatrica scandinavica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.849
H-Index - 146
eISSN - 1600-0447
pISSN - 0001-690X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0447.1988.tb06338.x
Subject(s) - confounding , medicine , depression (economics) , subclinical infection , basal (medicine) , trh stimulation test , endocrinology , hypothalamic–pituitary–thyroid axis , psychology , thyroid , thyrotropin releasing hormone , hormone , thyroid hormones , insulin , economics , macroeconomics
The relationship between age and TSH response to TRH was studied in 40 men with unipolar major depressive disorder (range 24–65 years, mean 44.7 years) and 36 healthy male volunteers of similar ages. Both groups were subdivided into younger and older than 40 years of age. “Blunted” TSH response to TRH was observed in 58% of depressed men and in 28% of controls, using a dTSH maximum of ≤ 6 μU/ml as a cut‐off criterion. Older healthy men had a higher blunting rate (40%) than the younger group (19%). In depressed patients, by contrast, the blunting rate was 50% in the older group and 65% in the younger group. Higher mean maximum dTSH, higher basal TSH and lower mean circulating FT 4 levels were also noted in older depressed men, suggestive of a subtle thyroid subsensitivity to TSH stimulation and subclinical primary hypothyroidism that may have contributed to the depression. Age is known to be a confounder of TRH test results. There may be a subset of depressed patients over 40 where the confounding effect of age is associated with an exaggerated, rather than decreased TSH response to TRH.