Heart rate variability in depressed elderly.

Objective: The present study examines a measure of cardiac autonomic function, the heart rate variability (HRV), in a group of depressed elderly. Cardiac autonomic abnormalities have been implicated as a potential mediator of cardiovascular events and sudden death in depression. Because aging is associated with decreased cardiac vagal activity, it is possible that autonomic abnormalities are even more pronounced in the older depressed patients.

Effects of sertraline on sleep architecture in patients with depression.

Previous studies indicate that selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), including fluoxetine, fluvoxamine, citalopram and paroxetine, suppress rapid eye movement sleep, and increased nocturnal arousals. There has been no published report of the impact of sertraline on the sleep of depressed patients. This study examines such effects.

Effects of tranylcypromine on the sleep of patients with anergic bipolar depression.

A significant proportion of patients with bipolar disorder are hypersomnolent. It is not clear if this affects response to treatment because few studies have systematically examined treatment effects on sleep in patients with bipolar depression. Reported herein are the results of what we believe to be the first study of the effects of the monoamine oxidase inhibitor tranylcypromine (average dose=37 mg/day) on the sleep of patients with bipolar depression.

Electroencephalographic sleep profiles in single-episode and recurrent unipolar forms of major depression: II. Comparison during remission.

Background: Previous studies indicate that recurrent forms of depression are associated with greater biological disturbances as compared to single-episode cases. This study examines whether the observed differences in the sleep patterns during recurrent and single-episode depression persist into remission following nonpharmacologic treatment.

Methods: Two groups of patients (27 single episode [SE] and 53 recurrent unipolar [RU]) with major depression underwent sleep studies before and after nonpharmacologic treatment.

Spousally Bereaved Elders With Subsyndromal Depression: A Descriptive Analysis and Comparison With Major Depression.

The authors compared the frequency and severity of symptoms in subsyndromal and major depression after spousal bereavement in later life, as well as measures of social support, functional status, and grief intensity. Subsyndromal subjects (n = 25, mean age = 68.1) experienced fewer and less severe depressive symptoms and less functional impairment and anxiety than subjects with major depression (n = 25, mean age = 68.

Two-Year Survival in Patients With Mixed Symptoms of Depression and Cognitive Impairment: Comparison With Major Depression and Primary Degenerative Dementia.

The authors compared the 2-year survival rates of patients with 1) mixed clinical presentations (n=58), 2) major depression without cognitive impairment (n = 51), and 3) primary degenerative dementia without depression (n = 34). Two-year survival rates were 100% in healthy controls, 91% in patients with major depression, and 76.1% and 78.