Thyroid hormone levels and recurrence of major depression.

Joffe, R T; Marriott, M · Am J Psychiatry · 2000

retrospective_cohort · Level III

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Abstract

The relationship between basal thyroid hormone levels and acute antidepressant response has been studied, but any relationship between basal thyroid hormone levels and long-term course of depressive illness has not been evaluated. The authors used a Cox regression survival analysis to evaluate the relationship between life course of depressive illness and basal levels of thyroid hormones (triiodothyronine [T(3)], thyroxine [T(4)], and thyrotropin) in 75 outpatients with unipolar major depressive disorder. Time to recurrence of major depression was inversely related to T(3) levels but not to T(4) levels. These data may be of clinical interest in view of the fact that T(3) is used to augment antidepressant response.

Medical subject headings