Symptoms of major depression among Mexican-American and non-Hispanic whites

Article Abstract:

In general community samples, the occurrence of symptoms of major depression has been estimated to be between 4 to 18 percent. Some studies have indicated that ethnic differences may play a role in the rate of depressive symptoms within populations. The results of two surveys of Mexican-Americans who were randomly selected from the community are reported. The first survey was the Los Angeles Epidemiologic Catchment Area study, which focused on assessing the mental health within a general population. The second survey consisted of the Mexican-American components of the Hispanic Health and Nutrition Examination Survey of the National Center for Health Statistics, which focused on nutritional status and health. The results indicated that symptoms of depression were common, with 25 to 40 percent of respondents recalling a period of at least two weeks of dysphoria (feelings of depression and unrest) at some point in their lives. Symptoms from other clusters were reported by about 2 to 25 percent of the respondents. The most commonly reported symptoms were sleep and appetite disturbances, and thoughts of death. Differences were observed between non-Hispanic white and Mexican-Americans, with Mexican-Americans having fewer psychiatric symptoms. Further examination of the data revealed that Mexican-Americans born in the United States had rates of symptom clusters that were comparable to non-Hispanic whites. Individuals born in Mexico had fewer symptoms than either of the two other groups. Higher rates of depressive symptoms were associated with cultural similarities to non-Hispanic whites born in the United States. Language differences between the groups was not considered to be an influential factor in frequency of depressive symptoms. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

Social aspects, Demographic aspects, Surveys, Mexican Americans

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TSH response to TRH in depression with and without panic attacks

Article Abstract:

Major depression and panic disorder have been shown to have a close biologic connection. About one-fourth of patients with major depression have shown a low thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) response to thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH); 33 to 40 percent of patients with panic disorder show the same response. To further test these findings, this study compared the response of TSH to TRH between a group of 27 women and 19 men diagnosed with depression and 106 normal control subjects. All of the study subjects had thyroid functioning within normal limits. Ten of these women and four of these men had panic attacks accompanying their depression. The TSH response showed no significant difference between normal and depressed subjects without panic attacks, but depressed patients with panic attacks had lower responses than normal subjects and depressed patients without panic. Women with long-standing panic attacks also showed a significantly greater prevalence of low TSH response than women with panic attacks alone during the depressive episode. According to these data, depressed patients without panic are indistinguishable from normal subjects by TRH testing. Since all of these patients were considered to have normal thyroid hormone levels and activity, further investigation into "preclinical" and "marginal" hyperthyroidism is necessary to see if thyroid hormone levels inhibit TSH response and cause the associated panic symptoms. TSH response to TRH may be an earlier indicator of increasing levels of thyroid hormone than the measurement of basal blood hormone levels. Further study in other possible hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid pathology in patients with panic symptoms is also needed. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

Panic disorders, Panic disorder, Hyperthyroidism

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Recurrence of geriatric depression

Article Abstract:

A study of the recurrence of first-episode geriatric depression after discontinuation of antidepressants is discussed. Issues include demographic and clinical characteristics of the study group, stage of treatment, assessment of outcome, and confidence interval of the recurrence rate.

Depression in old age, Geriatric depression, Letter to the Editor

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