Altered serum levels of thyroxine, triiodothyroinine and thyroid stimulating hormone in patients with depression.

OBJECTIVE: To assess serum level of Thyroxine (T4), Triiodothyronine(T3) and thyroid stimulating hormone(TSH) in patient with depression. METHODS: Thirty one clinically diagnosed depressed patients and equal number of healthy, age and sex matched control subjects were included in this study. Ham-D scale was used to classify the degree of depression into mild, moderate and severe grades. The biochemical parameters (T3, T4 and TSH) were estimated using commercially available kits. The data were analyzed by using (SPSS-10 software), one way ANOVA and chi2 test. RESULT: Female depressed (n=17) cases outnumber the male depressed cases. The distributions of patients in mild, moderate and severe categories were similar. The T3 and T4 level were found to be significantly raised in the moderate depression as compared to the healthy controls. ANOVA with multiple comparisons testing among the patient group showed a significant high TSH level (F>3.17) at 5% level of significance. A total of six depressive patients were found to have thyroid abnormalities. CONCLUSION: This study therefore points towards presence of thyroid dysfunction among the depressive which most often characterized as a "Lower Thyroid Syndrome". Thus inclusion of thyroid screening test among depressive patients may be helpful in proper management of cases.