Relationship between REM sleep latency and nocturnal cortisol concentrations in depressed patients

SUMMARY  Due to conflicting reports on the possible association between shortening of rapid eye movement (REM) latency and increased cortisol secretion in patients with severe depression, this study examined the relationship between REM sleep latency and nocturnal cortisol concentration in 12 outpatients with major depression. The results showed a significant inverse correlation (r=—0.71, P<0.01) between REM sleep latency and mean (23.00 hours‐03.00 hours) plasma cortisol concentration. Age and severity of depression did not contribute to the inverse relationship. REM activity and density during the first REM period showed no significant correlations with the cortisol measures. A review of the literature suggests that this relationship might be unique to subjects with major depression, and again raises the possibility that these biological disruptions may have a common neurochemical basis.

[1]  Nighttime plasma cortisol secretion and EEG sleep—Are they associated? , 1983, Psychiatry Research.

[2]  D. Janowsky,et al.  Muscarinic supersensitivity of anterior pituitary ACTH and B-endorphin release in major depressive illness , 1983, Peptides.

[3]  C. Wallace,et al.  Social skills training for patients with schizophrenia: A controlled clinical trial , 1985, Psychiatry Research.

[4]  B. Carroll,et al.  Biological markers for endogenous depression in series and parallel. , 1984, Biological psychiatry.

[5]  J. Born,et al.  Night-time plasma cortisol secretion is associated with specific sleep stages , 1986, Biological Psychiatry.

[6]  R. Rubin,et al.  A modified dexamethasone suppression test for endogenous depression , 1985, Psychiatry Research.

[7]  R. Rubin,et al.  Neuroendocrine aspects of primary endogenous depression. I. Cortisol secretory dynamics in patients and matched controls. , 1987, Archives of general psychiatry.

[8]  L. Tondo,et al.  Differential effects of scopolamine on nocturnal cortisol secretion, sleep architecture, and REM latency in normal volunteers: Relation to sleep and cortisol abnormalities in depression , 1989, Biological Psychiatry.

[9]  R. Kathol,et al.  Pathophysiology of HPA axis abnormalities in patients with major depression: an update. , 1989, The American journal of psychiatry.

[10]  A. Rush,et al.  Relationships among the TRH, REM latency, and dexamethasone suppression tests: preliminary findings. , 1983, The Journal of clinical psychiatry.

[11]  E. Wolpert.  A Manual of Standardized Terminology, Techniques and Scoring System for Sleep Stages of Human Subjects. , 1969 .

[12]  G. Franck,et al.  Concurrent use of REM latency, dexamethasone suppression, clonidine, and apomorphine tests as biological markers of endogenous depression: A pilot study , 1984, Psychiatry Research.

[13]  A. Rush,et al.  Sleep EEG and dexamethasone suppression test findings in outpatients with unipolar major depressive disorders. , 1982, Biological psychiatry.

[14]  D. Kupfer,et al.  Relationship among selected neuroendocrine and sleep measures in patients with recurrent depression. , 1984, Biological psychiatry.

[15]  A. Rush,et al.  Polysomnographic findings and dexamethasone nonsuppression in unipolar depression: A replication and extension , 1987, Biological Psychiatry.

[16]  D. Riemann,et al.  The cholinergic rapid eye movement sleep induction test with RS-86. State or trait marker of depression? , 1989, Archives of general psychiatry.

[17]  Jacob Cohen.  Statistical Power Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences , 1969, The SAGE Encyclopedia of Research Design.

[18]  J. Endicott,et al.  Plasma cortisol secretion and REM period latency in adult endogenous depression. , 1983, The American journal of psychiatry.

[19]  R. Rubin,et al.  Saliva cortisol levels following dexamethasone administration in endogenously depressed patients. , 1982, Life sciences.

[20]  D J Kupfer,et al.  The application of EEG sleep for the differential diagnosis of affective disorders. , 1978, The American journal of psychiatry.

[21]  Sleep electroencephalographic measures in primary major depressive disorder: Distinction between DST suppressor and nonsuppressor patients , 1986, Biological Psychiatry.

[22]  P. Linkowski,et al.  Dexamethasone Suppression Test and REM Sleep in Patients with Major Depressive Disorder , 1984, British Journal of Psychiatry.