scholarly journals The Cortisol Awakening Response in Patients with Poststroke Depression Is Blunted and Negatively Correlated with Depressive Mood

2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oh Jeong Kwon ◽  
Munsoo Kim ◽  
Ho Sub Lee ◽  
Kang-keyng Sung ◽  
Sangkwan Lee

It is important to reduce poststroke depression (PSD) to improve the stroke outcomes and quality of life in stroke patients, but the underlying mechanisms of PSD are not completely understood. As many studies implicate dysregulation of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis in the etiology of major depression and stroke, we compared the cortisol awakening response (CAR) of 28 admitted PSD patients with that of 23 age-matched caregiver controls. Saliva samples for cortisol measurement were collected immediately, 15, 30, and 45 min after awakening for two consecutive days. Depressive mood status in PSD patients was determined with Beck Depression Inventory and Hamilton Depression Rating Scale. Salivary cortisol levels of PSD patients did not rise significantly at any sampling time, showing a somewhat flat curve. Caregiver controls showed significantly higher CAR at 15 and 30 min after awakening compared to PSD patients even though the two groups did not differ at awakening or 45 min after awakening. Area-under-the-curve analysis revealed a significant negative correlation between the CAR and the degree of depression in PSD patients. Thus, our findings suggest that poststroke depression is closely related with dysfunctional HPA axis indicated by blunted CAR.

2017 ◽  
Vol 29 (5) ◽  
pp. 1877-1893 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa R. Starr ◽  
Kimberly Dienes ◽  
Catherine B. Stroud ◽  
Zoey A. Shaw ◽  
Y. Irina Li ◽  
...  

AbstractChildhood adversity (CA) is known to predict sensitization to proximal stressors. Researchers have suggested that disruptions in hypothalamus–pituitary–adrenal axis functioning may be a biological mechanism. If so, CA may predict altered associations between proximal life stress and markers of cortisol secretion. We examined whether CA moderates associations between recent episodic stress and (a) the cortisol awakening response (CAR), and (b) depressive symptoms, in 241 adolescents aged 14–17 years (cortisoln= 196). Salivary cortisol was sampled at 0, 30, and 60 min postawakening for 2 days. The CAR was calculated as the area under the curve with respect to increase and waking cortisol. CA and episodic stress were assessed using contextual-threat-method-coded objective interviews. CA significantly interacted with episodic stress to predict both the CAR and depression. Among those with low CA, episodic stress predicted increased CAR but did not predict depression. For adolescents with high CA, episodic stress predicted lower CAR and higher depression. These interactions were found only for independent (uncontrollable, fateful) events, and not for dependent (self-generated) stress. Increased allostatic load resulting from CA exposure may interfere with adolescents' ability to optimally regulate their CAR in relation to recent stress, contributing to increased depression risk.


Author(s):  
Shuji Shinohara ◽  
Mitsuteru Nakamura ◽  
Yasuhiro Omiya ◽  
Masakazu Higuchi ◽  
Naoki Hagiwara ◽  
...  

Background: In many developed countries, mood disorders have become problematic, and the economic loss due to treatment costs and interference with work is immeasurable. Therefore, a simple technique to determine individuals’ depressive state and stress level is desired. Methods: We developed a method to assess specific the psychological issues of individuals with major depressive disorders using emotional components contained in their voice. We propose two indices: vitality, a short-term index, and mental activity, a long-term index capturing trends in vitality. To evaluate our method, we used the voices of healthy individuals (n = 14) and patients with major depression (n = 30). The patients were also assessed by specialists using the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D). Results: A significant negative correlation existed between the vitality extracted from the voices and HAM-D scores (r = −0.33, p < 0.05). Furthermore, we could discriminate the voice data of healthy individuals and patients with depression with a high accuracy using the vitality indicator (p = 0.0085, area under the curve of the receiver operating characteristic curve = 0.76).


Author(s):  
Shuji Shinohara ◽  
Mitsuteru Nakamura ◽  
Yasuhiro Omiya ◽  
Masakazu Higuchi ◽  
Naoki Hagiwara ◽  
...  

In many developed countries, mental health disorders have become problematic, and the economic loss due to treatment costs and interference with work is immeasurable. Therefore, we developed a method to assess individuals’ mental health using emotional components contained in their voice. We propose two indices of mental health: vitality, a short-term index, and mental activity, a long-term index capturing the trends in vitality. To evaluate our method, we used the voices of healthy individuals (n = 14) and patients with major depression (n = 30). The patients were also assessed by specialists using the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D). A significant negative correlation existed between the vitality extracted from the voices and HAM-D scores (r = -0.33, p &amp;lt; .05). We could discriminate the voice data of healthy individuals and patients having depression with a high accuracy using the vitality (p = .0085, area under the curve = 0.76). Further, we developed a method to estimate stress through emotion instead of analyzing stress directly from voice data. By daily monitoring of vitality using smartphones, we can encourage hospital visits for people before they become depressed or during the early stages of depression, to prevent adverse consequences of depression.


Author(s):  
Ramya N. R. ◽  
Radhika Gadgi

Background: Menopause is a physiological event, a unique stage of a female reproductive system and transition in life that occurs in all women who reach midlife. The clinical consequence of menopause is due to estrogen deficiency. Some of menopausal symptoms experienced by these women can be severe enough to affect their normal lifestyle. Unfortunately, majority of these women are not aware of the changes brought about by menopause. Objective of the study was to assess the prevalence of different menopausal symptoms and their severity according to menopause rating scale and their impact on quality of life.Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted by the department of obstetrics and gynaecology, Yenopaya Medical College, Mangalore between June 2020 to August 2020. A total of 210 women who are between the age of 40 and 65 years who had their last menstrual period of at least 1 year ago and were included in the study.Results: In the study majority of subjects were in the age group 46 to 50 years (42.9%). In the study there was significant association between general health and hot flushes, heart discomfort, depressive mood, irritability, physical and mental exhaustion, bladder problems and joint and muscular pain. There was no significant association between general health and sleep problem, anxiety, sexual problems and dryness of vagina.Conclusion: The menopausal rating scale can be used an effective tool while examining the patients for menopausal symptoms. Regular screening of such women can make a huge difference, and their quality of life can be improved.


2010 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 369-374 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thales Weber Garcia ◽  
Joel Paulo Russomano Veiga ◽  
Lucilia Domingues Casulari da Motta ◽  
Flávio José Dutra de Moura ◽  
Luiz Augusto Casulari

OBJECTIVE: To assess mood and quality of life in male hemodialysis patients, and to correlate mood swings with the different domains of the quality of life questionnaire. METHOD: Forty-seven male patients undergoing regular hemodialysis for more than six months were included in the study. The Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression and the Kidney Disease Quality of Life Questionnaire, in a version translated into and adapted to Portuguese, were used. RESULTS: The patients' age was 39.4 ± 8.9 years (median ± SD). Depression was observed in 32 (68.1%) patients according to the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression. A significant negative correlation was found between the results from the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression and the following parameters of the specific dimensions of the Kidney Disease Quality of Life Questionnaire: list of symptoms and problems (rs = -0.399; p = 0.005), quality of social interaction (rs = -0.433; p = 0.002), and quality of sleep (rs = -0.585; p < 0.001). Among the generic domains, mood showed a significant negative correlation with general health (rs = -0.475; p < 0.001), emotional well-being (rs = -0.354; p = 0.015), social functioning and energy/fatigue (rs = -0.518; p < 0.001). The other parameters of the Kidney Disease Quality of Life Questionnaire did not show significant correlations with the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression. CONCLUSION: Mood showed a negative correlation with the various scores of quality of life assessed by the Kidney Disease Quality of Life Questionnaire, suggesting a possible influence of mood on the quality of life of chronic renal patients undergoing hemodialysis.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maliha Afrin Proma ◽  
Sohel Daria ◽  
Salsabil Islam ◽  
Zabun Nahar ◽  
Sardar Mohammad Ashraful Islam ◽  
...  

AbstractMajor depressive disorder (MDD) is a distressing condition characterized by persistent low mood, loss of interest in daily activities. Many biological, psycho-social, and genetic factors are thought to be involved with depression. The present study aimed to investigate the serum levels of monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) in MDD patients to explore its role in the development of depression. This case-control study recruited 114 MDD patients and 106 healthy controls (HCs) matched by age and gender. A specialized psychiatrist diagnosed the cases and evaluated the controls based on the diagnostic and statistical manual for mental disorders, 5th edition. The serum MCP-1 levels were quantified by commercially available enzyme-linked immune sorbent assay kits. The Hamilton depression rating scale (Ham-D) was applied to measure the severity of depression. We observed the decreased levels of serum MCP-1 in MDD patients compared to HCs. A significant negative correlation was obtained between serum MCP-1 levels and Ham-D scores. Also, female MDD patients with higher Ham-D scores exhibited lower serum MCP-1 levels. The receiver operating characteristic analysis demonstrated the good diagnostic value of MCP-1 with the area under the curve at 0.837. The depression-related alteration of serum MCP-1 may be more complicated than the current assumption and depends on the characteristics of the individual patients. Our study suggests that the serum MCP-1 levels might be involved in the pathophysiology and mechanism of MDD. The present findings, along with the diagnostic evaluation, might be used to assess the depression risk.


Author(s):  
Maliha Afrin Proma ◽  
Sohel Daria ◽  
Zabun Nahar ◽  
Sardar Mohammad Ashraful Islam ◽  
Mohiuddin Ahmed Bhuiyan ◽  
...  

Abstract Objectives Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a distressing condition characterized by persistent low mood, loss of interest in daily activities. Researchers consider several biological, psycho-social, and genetic factors are involved in depression. The present study aimed to investigate the serum levels of monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) in MDD patients to explore its role in depression. Methods This case-control study recruited 114 MDD patients and 106 healthy controls (HCs) matched by age and gender. A specialized psychiatrist diagnosed the cases and evaluated the controls based on the diagnostic and statistical manual for mental disorders, 5th edition. We quantified serum MCP-1 levels using commercially available enzyme-linked immune sorbent assay kits. Also, we applied the Hamilton depression rating scale (Ham-D) to measure the severity of depression. Results We observed the decreased levels of serum MCP-1 in MDD patients compared to HCs. Also, we obtained a significant negative correlation between serum MCP-1 levels and Ham-D scores. Moreover, female MDD patients with higher Ham-D scores exhibited lower serum MCP-1 levels. The receiver operating characteristic analysis demonstrated the good diagnostic value of MCP-1 with the area under the curve at 0.837. Conclusions The depression-related alteration of serum MCP-1 may be more complicated than the current assumption and depends on the characteristics of the individual patients. Our study suggests that the serum MCP-1 levels might involve in the pathophysiology and mechanism of MDD. The present findings, along with the diagnostic evaluation, might be used to evaluate depressive patients.


2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Yaziz ◽  
Ahmad Sobri Muda ◽  
Wan Asyraf Wan Zaidi ◽  
Nik Azuan Nik Ismail

Background : The clot burden score (CBS) is a scoring system used in acute ischemic stroke (AIS) to predict patient outcome and guide treatment decision. However, CBS is not routinely practiced in many institutions. This study aimed to investigate the feasibility of CBS as a relevant predictor of good clinical outcome in AIS cases. Methods:  A retrospective data collection and review of AIS patients in a teaching hospital was done from June 2010 until June 2015. Patients were selected following the inclusion and exclusion criteria. These patients were followed up after 90 days of discharge. The Modified Rankin scale (mRS) was used to assess their outcome (functional status). Linear regression Spearman Rank correlation was performed between the CBS and mRS. The quality performance of the correlations was evaluated using Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. Results: A total of 89 patients with AIS were analysed, 67.4% (n=60) male and 32.6% (n=29) female. Twenty-nine (29) patients (33.7%) had a CBS ?6, 6 patients (6.7%) had CBS <6, while 53 patients (59.6%) were deemed clot free. Ninety (90) days post insult, clinical assessment showed that 57 (67.6%) patients were functionally independent, 27 (30.3%) patients functionally dependent, and 5 (5.6%) patients were deceased. Data analysis reported a significant negative correlation (r= -0.611, p<0.001). ROC curves analysis showed an area under the curve of 0.81 at the cut-off point of 6.5. This showed that a CBS of more than 6 predicted a good mRS clinical outcome in AIS patients; with sensitivity of 98.2%, specificity of 53.1%, positive predictive value (PPV) of 76%, and negative predictive value (NPV) of 21%. Conclusion: CBS is a useful additional variable for the management of AIS cases, and should be incorporated into the routine radiological reporting for acute ischemic stroke (AIS) cases.


Author(s):  
Tal-hatu Kolapo Hamzat ◽  
Nelson Echezona Ekechukwu

Background: Most stroke survivors live with residual physical impairments that may promote a sedentary lifestyle and resultant secondary complications, especially poor cardio-respiratory fitness. This systematic review was conceived to examine the extent of research on the effect of aerobic exercise on health outcomes of stroke survivors as a prelude to a clinical trial.Method: Electronic databases were searched with the last search performed in May, 2014. The methodological quality of studies was assessed using the PEDro scale. High-quality randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were considered level 1 evidence while lower-quality RCTs were considered level 2 evidence. Result: A total of 642 articles were generated from the search strategy; 10 articles fulfilled all criteria and were selected for this review. 50% of these studies recruited stroke survivors with ischaemic type of stroke while 30% had individuals with either ischaemic or haemorrhagic types. 70% of the studies had good scores while 30% had fair scores in methodological quality. The majority of the studies used VO2max as the outcome for assessing aerobic fitness; a few studies (10% each) assessed anthropometric outcomes and biochemical profile. No study assessed a haematological profile nor compared the effects of continuous and interval aerobic exercise on stroke outcomes. Conclusion: A gap in clinical trials on the effects of aerobic exercise on biochemical, haematological and anthropometric profiles of stroke survivors exists as well as in the comparative effects of continuous and interval training on stroke outcomes.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuan Li ◽  
Jingmin Ding ◽  
Yishan Wang ◽  
Chengyao Tang ◽  
Puhong Zhang

BACKGROUND There are an increasing number of mobile applications that provide dietary guidance in supporting healthy lifestyle and disease management. However, the characteristics of these nutrition-related apps are not well analyzed. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to evaluate the functionality and quality of nutrition-related apps in China. METHODS Mobile apps providing dietary guidance were screened in Chinese iOS and android app stores using stepwise searching criteria in November 2017. Primary review was conducted by extracting information from the description of apps. Free apps that contain all the information of diet and nutrition, with the last update after 1st Jan 2016 were downloaded for further analysis on the nutritional functionality features based on the framework of Chinese Dietary Guidelines and on the market related features as well. The user version of the Mobile Application Rating Scale (uMARS) was used to assess the quality of apps. RESULTS Among the 44 downloaded nutrition-related apps screened from 628 apps with dietary guidance content, only 11(25%) were aimed exclusively for dietary guidance, the others were aimed for fitness guidance (17, 39%), disease management (11, 25%) and maternal health (5, 11%) respectively. The nutritional functionalities of the 44 apps included nutritional information enquiry (40, 91%), nutrition education (35, 80%), food record (34, 77%), diet analysis (34, 77%), and personalized recipes (21, 48%). Twelve out of 44 apps contained all of the above five nutrition related functionalities. The diet analysis and suggestions were mainly focused on energy (33/44, 75%), less on other factors like dietary structure (10/44, 23%). About 96% (42/44) of the apps provided social communication functionality and 59% (26/44) of the apps supported user incentives. Eight out of 44 apps (18%) also applied intelligent recognition technology. Using 5-point uMARS as scales of quality, the median scores of the 44 apps was 3.6 (IQR = 0.7). CONCLUSIONS Most nutrition-related apps are developed in the service of health management other than for dietary guidance exclusively. Although basic energy balance theory was generally applied, the nutritional functionality of the nutrition-related apps is relatively limited and not individualized. More efforts should be taken to integrate with the scientific nutritional knowledge and innovative technology in developing an app followed with complete and personalized dietary guidance.


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