Acute Stress-Induced Coagulation Activation in Patients With Remitted Major Depression Versus Healthy Controls and the Role of Stress-Specific Coping.

Background: Depressed patients have an increased risk of myocardial infarction, for which acute stress is a frequent trigger. Prothrombotic changes could be one involved mechanism that can be modulated by psychological coping.

Purpose: We examined the effects of remitted major depression and situation-specific coping strategies on stress-induced coagulation activation.

Evidence for an enhanced procoagulant state in remitted major depression.

Objectives: Hypercoagulability is one mechanism to explain the increased risk of incident atherothrombotic disease in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). We examined whether patients with remitted MDD show an enhanced procoagulant state.

Methods: 63 individuals (median age 35 years, 59% women), 40 with a DSM-IV diagnosis of remitted MDD, made by a clinical interview, and 23 healthy controls provided blood samples for the measurement of fibrinogen, D-dimer, von Willebrand factor, and plasminogen activator inhibitor-1.

FKBP5 genotype-dependent DNA methylation and mRNA regulation after psychosocial stress in remitted depression and healthy controls.

Background: Polymorphisms in the FK506 binding protein 5 (FKBP5) gene have been shown to influence glucocorticoid receptor sensitivity, stress response regulation, and depression risk in traumatized subjects, with most consistent findings reported for the functional variant rs1360780. In the present study, we investigated whether the FKBP5 polymorphism rs1360780 and lifetime history of major depression are associated with DNA methylation and FKBP5 gene expression after psychosocial stress.

Methods: A total of 116 individuals with a positive (n = 61) and negative (n = 55) lifetime history of major depression participated in the Trier Social Stress Test.

Increased HPA axis response to psychosocial stress in remitted depression: the influence of coping style.

The aim of the study was to examine the modulating effects of coping style on the response to psychosocial stress in remitted major depression (MD) and healthy controls. Thirty-three participants with a lifetime history of MD, who were in remission, and 32 age- and gender-matched healthy controls were recruited from a longitudinal-epidemiological study, in which the presence or absence of mental disorders was prospectively ascertained. Participants (aged 30-41 years) underwent two consecutive Trier Social Stress Tests (TSSTs).