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Higher serum dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate protects against the onset of depression in the elderly: Findings from the English Longitudinal Study of Aging (ELSA)

Souza-Teodoro, LH; de Oliveira, C; Walters, K; Carvalho, LA; (2016) Higher serum dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate protects against the onset of depression in the elderly: Findings from the English Longitudinal Study of Aging (ELSA). Psychoneuroendocrinology , 64 pp. 40-46. 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2015.11.005. Green open access

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Abstract

Depression is one of the major causes of disability worldwide, but the complete etiology of depression is not fully understood. Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and its sulphated form DHEA(S) have been associated with mood and healthy aging. Associations with mental illness over the middle to late years of life have not yet been extensively investigated in large, western community-dwelling samples. The aim of this study was to investigate whether low DHEA(S) levels are associated with the development of depressive symptoms in a large longitudinal cohort study of older men and women. We assessed data from English Longitudinal Study of Aging (ELSA) to evaluate the association of DHEA(S) levels and depressive symptoms measured by Center for Epidemiologic Studies Scale (CES-D) at baseline (n=3083) and at 4-year follow-up (n=3009). At baseline, there was an inverse association between DHEA(S) and depressive symptoms (B=-0.252, p=0.014). Adjustments for physical illnesses, impairments in cognitive function and health behaviors abolished this association (p=0.109) at baseline. Decreased DHEA(S) levels at baseline also predicted incident depression at 4-year follow-up (B=-0.332, p<0.001). In conclusion, higher DHEA(S) levels were associated with reduced risk of developing depressive symptoms in both men and women.

Type: Article
Title: Higher serum dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate protects against the onset of depression in the elderly: Findings from the English Longitudinal Study of Aging (ELSA)
Location: England
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2015.11.005
Publisher version: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2015.11.005
Language: English
Additional information: © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Keywords: Adrenal gland, Aging, Antiglucocorticoid, Biomarkers, Mental health, Psychological stress, Psychoneuroimmunology
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Epidemiology and Health
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Epidemiology and Health > Epidemiology and Public Health
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Epidemiology and Health > Primary Care and Population Health
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1476437
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