Temperature and pulse chronomes in patients with neurotic and affective disorders treated with some antidepressants and tranquillizers.

The axillary temperature and the pulse rate for 1 minute were taken hourly from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. in 65 physically and mentally healthy individuals and in 365 inpatients with neuroses and affective disorders. In approximately one fifth of the sample these measures were taken in the night hours too. Some of them were examined before and after treatment with antidepressants (imipramine, amitriptyline, maprotiline, trimipramine, clomipramine, viloxazine) and tranquillizers (benzodiazepines). The total number of cases adds up to 615 patients. The data were analyzed with the method of F. Halberg for cosinor-analysis (cosinor-rhythmometry). Our findings indicate that the temperature and pulse mesors in patients with neuroses and affective disorders before treatment are higher than in healthy individuals. In both patients groups (neuroses and affective disorders) these psychotropic drugs produce desynchronosis between pulse and temperature. The distribution by diagnoses show that the same antidepressant can transform the pulse and temperature chronome in different ways. This is due, on the one hand, to the different etiology of the disease process in each patient and, on the other hand, to the external agent (the drug).