Parental history of depression and higher basal salivary cortisol in unaffected child and adolescent offspring

BackgroundThe late positive potential (LPP) is an event-related potential component that is sensitive to the motivational salience of stimuli. Children with a parental history of depression, an indicator of risk, have been found to exhibit an attenuated LPP to emotional stimuli. Research on depressive and anxiety disorders has organized these conditions into two empirical classes: distress and fear disorders. The present study examined whether parental history of distress and fear disorders was associated with the LPP to emotional stimuli in a large sample of adolescent girls.MethodThe sample of 550 girls (ages 13.5–15.5 years) with no lifetime history of depression completed an emotional picture-viewing task and the LPP was measured in response to neutral, pleasant and unpleasant pictures. Parental lifetime history of psychopathology was determined via a semi-structured diagnostic interview with a biological parent, and confirmatory factor analysis was used to model distress and fear dimensions.ResultsParental distress risk was associated with an attenuated LPP to all stimuli. In contrast, parental fear risk was associated with an enhanced LPP to unpleasant pictures but was unrelated to the LPP to neutral and pleasant pictures. Furthermore, these results were independent of the adolescent girls’ current depression and anxiety symptoms and pubertal status.ConclusionsThe present study demonstrates that familial risk for distress and fear disorders may have unique profiles in terms of electrocortical measures of emotional information processing. This study is also one of the first to investigate emotional/motivational processes underlying the distress and fear disorder dimensions.

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M26. CLINICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF CHILD AND ADOLESCENT OFFSPRING OF PATIENTS DIAGNOSED WITH SCHIZOPHERNIA: A COMPARATIVE STUDY WITH ADHD CHILDREN

Schizophrenia Bulletin ◽

10.1093/schbul/sbaa030.338 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 46 (Supplement_1) ◽

pp. S143-S144

Author(s):

Elena De la Serna ◽

Gisela Sugranyes ◽

Daniel Ilzarbe ◽

Patricia Camprodon ◽

Inmaculada Baeza ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Psychosocial Functioning ◽

Psychotic Disorders ◽

Rating Scale ◽

Child And Adolescent ◽

Psychotic Symptoms ◽

Adhd Group ◽

Mixed Effect ◽

Prodromal Symptoms ◽

Adolescent Offspring ◽

History Of

Abstract Background Recent studies have observed high rates of psychopathology in child and adolescent offspring of patients with schizophrenia (SZoff). Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is the most prevalent psychopathology in SZoff (Sanchez-Gistau, et al., 2015). The high prevalence of ADHD observed in SZoff can conceal the vulnerability characteristics specific to schizophrenia. The aim of this study is to analyze the clinical characteristics of a sample of child and adolescent SZoff diagnosed with ADHD (SZoff-ADHD) compared to a sample of children with ADHD without a family history of psychotic disorders and a sample of healthy controls. We hypothesize that SZoff-ADHD will show more psychopathology and more prodromal psychotic symptoms than the other two groups. Methods we studied a sample of 22 SZoff-ADHD children, 15 children with ADHD with no familiar history of psychotic disorders and 40 healthy controls (HC) between 6 and 17 years old and we conducted a complete clinical assessment which included: Kiddie Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia (K-SADS), Young Mania Rating Scale (YMRS), Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS), Structured interview for Prodromal Symptoms (SOPS) and Global Assessment Functioning (GAF). In order to detect significant differences between groups, multilevel mixed-effect logistic regression models (categorical variables) or multilevel mixed-effect linear regression models (continuous variables) were performed with group as the fixed factor and the fact of having a sibling in the same study (identified by the family number) as the random variable. Results significant differences between groups were found in socio-economic status which was lower in the SZoff-ADHD group than in the other two groups (F=15.886; p<0.001). Moreover the SZoff-ADHD also showed a higher percentage of males (90.9%) compared with the ADHD group (62.5%) and the HC (45%) (F=12.647; p=0.002). No significant age differences between groups were detected. Regarding clinical assessments, the SZoff-ADHD group showed a higher percentage of conduct disorders (F=3.720; p=0.039) than the ADHD group. No significant differences were observed in other psychopathological diagnoses. Furthermore the SZoff-ADHD group also obtained higher scores than the HC group on the following scales: YMRS, positive, negative, general and total sub-scales of the SOPS and lower scores in the GAF. The ADHD group obtained significantly higher scores than the HC group in the sub-scale of SOPS general prodromal symptoms and lower scores on the GAF. Significant differences were detected between SZoff-ADHD and ADHD in the YMRS and the positive and negative sub-scales of the SOPS where the SZoff-ADHD group showed higher scores than the ADHD group. Discussion Compared with the HC group, the SZoff-ADHD displayed more manic, prodromal psychotic symptoms and worse psychosocial functioning. The ADHD group showed an intermediate pattern between the SZoff-ADHD and the HC group, with more general prodromal symptoms and lower psychosocial functioning than the HC group but lower scores than the SZoff-ADHD in the psychotic prodromal symptoms interview.

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Parental history of depression or anxiety and the cortisol awakening response

The British Journal of Psychiatry ◽

10.1192/bjp.bp.109.076869 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 197 (3) ◽

pp. 180-185 ◽

Cited By ~ 57

Author(s):

Sophie A. Vreeburg ◽

Catharina A. Hartman ◽

Witte J. G. Hoogendijk ◽

Richard van Dyck ◽

Frans G. Zitman ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Anxiety Disorders ◽

Hpa Axis ◽

Depression And Anxiety ◽

Major Depressive ◽

Parental History ◽

History Of ◽

Hpa Axis Dysregulation ◽

Cortisol Levels ◽

State Factor ◽

History Of Depression

BackgroundIt is unclear whether altered hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis regulation, which frequently accompanies depression and anxiety disorders, represents a trait rather than a state factor.AimsTo examine whether HPA axis dysregulation represents a biological vulnerability for these disorders, we compared cortisol levels in unaffected people with and without a parental history of depressive or anxiety disorders. We additionally examined whether possible HPA axis dysregulations resemble those observed in participants with depression or anxiety disorders.MethodData were from the Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety. Within the participants without a lifetime diagnoses of depression or anxiety disorders, three groups were distinguished: 180 people without parental history, 114 with self-reported parental history and 74 with CIDI-diagnosed parental history. These groups were additionally compared with people with major depressive disorder or panic disorder with agoraphobia (n = 1262). Salivary cortisol samples were obtained upon awakening, and 30, 45 and 60 min later.ResultsAs compared with unaffected participants without parental history, unaffected individuals with diagnosed parental history of depression or anxiety showed a significantly higher cortisol awakening curve (effect size (d) = 0.50), which was similar to that observed in the participants with depression or anxiety disorders. Unaffected people with self-reported parental history did not differ in awakening cortisol levels from unaffected people without parental history.ConclusionsUnaffected individuals with parental history of depression or anxiety showed a higher cortisol awakening curve, similar to that of the participants with depression or anxiety disorders. This suggests that a higher cortisol awakening curve reflects a trait marker, indicating an underlying biological vulnerability for the development of depressive and anxiety disorders.

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Differences in the Clinical Profile of Adolescents and Young Adults with Major Depressive Disorder Across Parental History Groups

Inquiry@Queen's Undergraduate Research Conference Proceedings ◽

10.24908/iqurcp.9210 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Jennifer Gillies

Keyword(s):

Major Depressive Disorder ◽

Depressive Disorder ◽

Clinical Profile ◽

Major Depressive ◽

Parental History ◽

Maternal History ◽

Offspring Sex ◽

History Of ◽

Severity Of Depression ◽

History Of Depression

An important causal factor of depression is family history ¾ there is compelling evidence that Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is familial. Although the connection between a maternal history of depression and offspring risk is well established, paternal history has been largely ignored in research thus far. The first goal of this study is to examine differences in the clinical profile of MDD across parental depression history groups (i.e., both-parent history versus maternal history only versus paternal history only versus no parental history). Based on previous findings, I predict that the severity of the clinical course of MDD (as operationalized by a higher severity of depression and anxiety symptoms, an increased likelihood of recurrence, and a greater likelihood of a comorbid anxiety disorder) will be highest for offspring with a both-parent history of depression, followed by those with a maternal history only, followed by individuals with a paternal history only, and lastly by offspring with no parental history of depression. The second goal is to determine if the group differences hypothesized above are further moderated by offspring sex. To date, very little is known about how parental history influences the clinical presentation of MDD in depressed offspring. This study will contribute to a limited body of research, and is unique in that it will include four parental history groups as well as offspring sex in its analyses. The study will use a quasi-archival sample of approximately 250 participants between 12 and 29 years of age, who have been diagnosed with MDD.

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Stress hormone levels of children of depressed mothers

Development and Psychopathology ◽

10.1017/s0954579402002080 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 14 (2) ◽

pp. 333-349 ◽

Cited By ~ 165

Author(s):

SHARON B. ASHMAN ◽

GERALDINE DAWSON ◽

HERACLES PANAGIOTIDES ◽

EMILY YAMADA ◽

CHARLES W. WILKINSON

Keyword(s):

Stress Response ◽

Maternal Depression ◽

Salivary Cortisol ◽

Internalizing Symptoms ◽

Baseline Cortisol ◽

History Of ◽

Depressed Mothers ◽

Cortisol Levels ◽

History Of Depression ◽

Laboratory Stressor

Research suggests that disruptions in early caretaking can have long-term effects on the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis, which mediates the stress response. Children of depressed mothers are at increased risk for developing internalizing problems in part because of disruptions in their caretaking environment. The present study investigated whether children of depressed mothers exhibit elevated salivary cortisol levels. Salivary cortisol samples were collected from 45 7- to 8-year-old children of mothers with a history of depression and 29 children of nondepressed mothers. Samples were collected soon after arrival to the laboratory and after a mild laboratory stressor and at home after wakeup and before bedtime. Children who had elevated levels of internalizing symptoms and whose mothers had a history of depression showed elevated laboratory baseline cortisol levels. Children who were reported to have clinically significant internalizing symptoms were also more likely to show an elevated stress response to a mild laboratory stressor. When the longitudinal history of maternal depression was examined, maternal depression during the child's first 2 years of life was the best predictor of elevations in baseline cortisol at age 7 years. This study provides evidence that internalizing symptoms exist in conjunction with a more reactive hormonal stress system in children of depressed mothers. The results also provide preliminary evidence that exposure to maternal depression in the first 2 years of life may be related to children's cortisol levels later in life.

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