Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0011570 (depression)
 172,036 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Seasonal affective disorder is characterized by recurring cycles of fall-winter depression and spring-summer hypomania (or euthymia). In winter, depressed patients with seasonal affective disorder respond to daily treatments with five to six hours of bright artificial light in two to three days. They relapse two to three days after light is withdrawn. In this study carefully controlled experimental conditions were used to determine whether phototherapy acts via a photoperiodic mechanism in which the timing of light is critical for its therapeutic effect. Photoperiodism is a common regulatory mechanism in animal seasonal rhythms and depends for its effect on light-induced changes in the pattern of nocturnal melatonin secretion. The results reported herein of "skeleton photoperiod" experiments indicate that the efficacy of phototherapy may not depend on its timing or its effect on melatonin secretion.
 ...
PMID:Phototherapy of seasonal affective disorder. Time of day and suppression of melatonin are not critical for antidepressant effects. 375 64

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) has been characterised by two or more depressive episodes in autumn or winter (with remission the following spring or summer), decreased energy, increased sleep, increased appetite, weight gain and carbohydrate craving. SAD patients were identified in a Swiss-German population; 22 participated in a light-therapy protocol (1 week bright white light 2,500 lux or dim yellow light 250 lux, from 06-08 h and 18-20 h). Both observer and self-ratings indicated a significant diminution of depressive symptoms with both lights. One week after withdrawal from yellow light, depression ratings relapsed to previous values; remission lasted longer after bright white light. Global VAS self-rating scales for "mood" and "well-being" however, and the Hamilton scale for atypical SAD symptoms, differentiated clearly between bright and dim light: only bright light showed an improvement that persisted after withdrawal. These results suggest that even though a placebo effect cannot be excluded, 4 h explicit light exposure/day may not be a negligible quantity. Light treatment promises to be a useful non-pharmacological intervention in certain forms of depressive illness.
 ...
PMID:Light treatment of seasonal affective disorder in Switzerland. 377 66

The authors treated winter depression in 13 patients with typical seasonal affective disorder by extending the length of winter days with bright and dim light in the morning and evening in a balanced-order crossover study. Bright light had a marked antidepressant effect, whereas the dim light did not. This response could not be attributed to sleep deprivation. Subsequent pilot studies indicated that bright evening light alone is probably also effective. Several patients were able to maintain the antidepressant response throughout the winter months by continuing daily light treatments.
 ...
PMID:Antidepressant effects of light in seasonal affective disorder. 388

One hundred and nine women were studied during the course of pregnancy in an attempt to predict which of them would later rate themselves as suffering from depressed mood up to twelve months post-natally. The psychometric measures used comprised the Zung Self-Rating Scale to measure depression, the DSSI/SAD sub-scale to measure anxiety and the Hostility and Direction of Hostility Questionnaire. Post-natal depression observed up to twelve months post-partum was positively associated with first trimester ante-natal scores on all three measures. The HDHQ and the DSSI/SAD measures were good predictors of depression at six weeks post-partum and both correlated significantly at six and nine months post-partum, whereas the Zung measure predicted depression at nine and twelve months as well as at six weeks post-partum. Parity was significantly associated with severe depression at six months post-partum.
 ...
PMID:Psychometric ante-natal predictors of post-natal depressed mood. 403 31

Forty-seven women were studied during the course of pregnancy in an attempt to predict which of them would later rate themselves as suffering from depressed mood post-natally. Psychometric and physiology measures were used in the three trimesters of pregnancy and six weeks after birth. The psychometric measures used ante-natally and post-natally comprised the Hostility and Direction of Hostility Questionnaire, and Locus of Control Scale, the DSSI/SAD sub-scale to measure anxiety, and the Zung Self-Rating Scale to measure depression. Psychophysiological measures used water heart-rate and blood pressure. Post-natal ratings of depression were associated with a high ante-natal score on overall hostility. Women with high anxiety and hostility ratings had a more pronounced response to the sound of a baby crying than to noise of similar frequency and intensity. This more pronounced heart response was also related to later post-natal depression ratings. However, by far the most useful predictive measure was the Hostility and Direction of Hostility Questionnaire: its predictive power in the first trimester of pregnancy was almost as good as in the third trimester.
 ...
PMID:Psychophysiological ante-natal predictors of post-natal depressed mood. 714 82

To investigate the role of a light-induced advance in the timing of the melatonin rhythm in seasonal affective disorder, 11 depressed patients underwent 2 weeks of light therapy with full spectrum or cool white light. Evening saliva samples were collected before and after each week of treatment and assayed for melatonin to determine the time of onset of nocturnal secretion. Both treatments reduced depression scores, advanced the timing of the melatonin rhythm, and increased melatonin concentrations. Time of onset of the nocturnal increase in melatonin did not differ between clinical responders and nonresponders, suggesting that a phase advance in the onset of nocturnal melatonin secretion is not sufficient to induce clinical remission in seasonal affective disorder.
 ...
PMID:Effect of light therapy on salivary melatonin in seasonal affective disorder. 756 44

This study compares the clinical characteristics of 127 patients with major depression, 99 with a seasonal and 28 with a non-seasonal pattern. Non-seasonal depressives had significantly higher scores in the Comprehensive Psychopathological Rating Scale, and the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale. Increased appetite and carbohydrate craving, were more frequently reported among patients with a seasonal pattern. Compared to previous reports, the Swedish patients with seasonal depression had less atypical vegetative symptomatology. The symptoms sadness, suicidal thoughts, slowness of movement, gastrointestinal symptoms, and weight loss were more frequent in the patients with a non-seasonal pattern. The clinical symptomatology has a low specificity compared to the seasonal pattern in diagnosing seasonal affective disorder according to DSM-III-R for seasonal and non-seasonal patterns.
 ...
PMID:Seasonal and non-seasonal depression. A comparison of clinical characteristics in Swedish patients. 765 85

Wintertime measures of central and peripheral monoamine neurotransmitter system activity in 17 medication-free depressed patients with seasonal affective disorder (SAD) were compared with those in eight healthy volunteers. Mean cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) concentrations of the principal metabolites of norepinephrine (NE), serotonin, and dopamine did not differ between the two groups, nor did mean basal or orthostatically stimulated plasma NE levels. Patients' pretreatment depression ratings were inversely correlated with resting plasma NE concentrations. Fourteen SAD patients were clear responders to 2 weeks of full-spectrum bright light treatment. Neither the transmitter measures nor their interrelatedness was affected significantly by phototherapy.
 ...
PMID:Biogenic amines in seasonal affective disorder: effects of light therapy. 768 96

Morning serum levels of triiodothyronine (T3), free thyroxine (F-T4) and thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) were measured in Winter-Seasonal Affective Disorder patients in nondepressed state in summer and before and after light treatment in winter. Practically all patients had hormone levels well within the reference ranges. T3 and F-T4, but not TSH, were significantly higher in winter than in summer; this is considered a normal phenomenon. There was no significant correlation between hormone levels and severity of winter depression. Light treatment did not alter serum hormone levels.
 ...
PMID:Thyroid function in seasonal affective disorder. 771 7

We examined hypersomnolence as experienced among individuals meeting standardized diagnostic criteria for Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). Data were available from 115 individuals attending a mood disorders clinic specializing in treatment of this disorder. Three modes of assessment were employed: retrospective self-reports (Seasonal Patterns Assessment Questionnaire), cross-sectional interviews (Standardized Interview Guide for the Hamilton Depression Scale, SAD Version), and prospective sleep diaries. Results indicated that self-reported total hours of sleep varied significantly across the seasons, with longest sleep occurring in winter and shortest sleep in summer. Seasonal sleep changes, as indicated by the SPAQ did not correlate significantly, however, with severity of depressive symptoms as indicated by the Hamilton scale. Multiple regression analyses indicated that only social activity levels (one of seven SPAQ items) was significantly and uniquely related to the severity of depression. When data obtained by the three instruments were compared, self-reported hours of sleep (whether measured by SPAQ or Hamilton interview) were significantly higher than indicated by prospective sleep diaries. We conclude that hypersomnolence may not be a central feature of SAD and that the validity of the SPAQ as an index of this disorder requires further investigation.
 ...
PMID:Is hypersomnolence a feature of seasonal affective disorder? 779 51


<< Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next >>