Depressed Mood and Other Psychiatric Manifestations of Cushingʼs Syndrome: Relationship to Hormone Levels
Abstract
Thirty-five consecutive patients with Cushing's syndrome were studied prospectively prior to treatment. A consistent constellation of psychiatric disturbances was found, including impairments in affect (depressed mood and crying), cognitive functions (decreased concentration and memory), and vegetative functions (decreased libido and insomnia). A statistically significant relationship was found between the overall psychiatric disability rating and cortisol and ACTH level. The relationship of depressed mood and hormone levels was examined. Low ACTH levels were significantly associated with milder rather than pronounced depressed mood. The implications of the similarities in psychiatric manifestations between Cushing's syndrome and the primary affective disorders are discussed.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Because elevated cortisol inhibits subsequent HPA activity, depressed patients show impaired glucocorticoid negative feedback.
“Since elevated levels of cortisol act to inhibit subsequent HPA activity, this finding suggests impaired glucocorticoid negative feedback in depressed patients.”
From Early life adversity and the epigenetic programming of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal function (2014) · cites this paper as [44]
Cushing's disease or prolonged corticosteroid therapy can precipitate Major Depressive Disorder and mania.
“Interestingly Cushing's disease or prolonged corticosteroid therapy can precipitate Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), but also mania.44”
From Early life adversity and the epigenetic programming of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal function (2014) · cites this paper as [44]
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Mood disorders and allostatic load
McEwen, B. S. (2003) · Biological Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/s0006-3223(03)00177-x · Cited by 1,135 · see citing works
Essex, M. J., Klein, M. H., Cho, E., & Kalin, N. H. (2002) · Biological Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/s0006-3223(02)01553-6 · Cited by 698 · see citing works
PSYCHONEUROENDOCRINOLOGY OF DEPRESSION
Plotsky, P. M., Owens, M. J., & Nemeroff, C. B. (1998) · Psychiatric Clinics of North America · doi:10.1016/s0193-953x(05)70006-x · Cited by 672 · see citing works
Dynamics of ACTH and Cortisol Secretion and Implications for Disease
Lightman, S. L., Birnie, M. T., & Conway-Campbell, B. L. (2020) · Endocrine Reviews · doi:10.1210/endrev/bnaa002 · Cited by 439 · see citing works
Cortisol and depression: three questions for psychiatry
Herbert, J. (2013) · Psychological Medicine · doi:10.1017/s0033291712000955 · Cited by 301 · see citing works
Lee, R. S., Tamashiro, K. L. K., Yang, X., Purcell, R. H., Harvey, A., Willour, V. L., Huo, Y., Rongione, M., Wand, G. S., & Potash, J. B. (2010) · Endocrinology · doi:10.1210/en.2010-0225 · Cited by 275 · see citing works
Steroids, neuroactive steroids and neurosteroids in psychopathology
Dubrovsky, B. O. (2005) · Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.pnpbp.2004.11.001 · Cited by 250 · see citing works
Early life adversity and the epigenetic programming of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal function
Anacker, C., O'Donnell, K. J., & Meaney, M. J. (2014) · Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience · doi:10.31887/dcns.2014.16.3/canacker · Cited by 237 · see citing works
Morning cortisol as a risk factor for subsequent major depressive disorder in adult women
Harris, T. O., Borsanyi, S., Messari, S., Stanford, K., Cleary, S. E., Shiers, H. M., Brown, G. W., & Herbert, J. (2000) · British Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.1192/bjp.177.6.505 · Cited by 220 · see citing works
New insights into the role of cortisol and the glucocorticoid receptor in severe depression
Gold, P. W., Drevets, W. C., Charney, D. S., & Drevets, W. C. (2002) · Biological Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/s0006-3223(02)01480-4 · Cited by 219 · see citing works
Endocrine withdrawal syndromes
Hochberg, Z., Pacak, K., & Chrousos, G. P. (2003) · Endocrine Reviews · doi:10.1210/er.2001-0014 · Cited by 181 · see citing works
Tiemensma, J., Biermasz, N. R., Middelkoop, H. A. M., van der Mast, R. C., Romijn, J. A., & Pereira, A. M. (2010) · The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism · doi:10.1210/jc.2010-0512 · Cited by 142 · see citing works
Resmini, E., Santos, A., Gómez-Anson, B., Vives, Y., Pires, P., Crespo, I., Portella, M. J., de Juan-Delago, M., Barahona, M.-J., & Webb, S. M. (2012) · The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism · doi:10.1210/jc.2011-2231 · Cited by 133 · see citing works
Liu, J., Buisman-Pijlman, F., & Hutchinson, M. R. (2014) · Frontiers in Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnins.2014.00309 · Cited by 119 · see citing works
Ragnarsson, O., Berglund, P., Eder, D. N., & Johannsson, G. (2012) · The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism · doi:10.1210/jc.2012-1945 · Cited by 111 · see citing works
Small cerebellar cortex volume in patients with active Cushing’s syndrome
Santos, A., Resmini, E., Crespo, I., Pires, P., Vives-Gilabert, Y., Granell, E., Valassi, E., Gómez-Anson, B., Martínez-Momblán, M. A., Mataró, M., et al. (2014) · European Journal of Endocrinology · doi:10.1530/eje-14-0371 · Cited by 60 · see citing works
McEwen, B. S. (2004) · Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience · doi:10.31887/dcns.2004.6.2/bmcewen · Cited by 54 · see citing works
Hormonal pertubations in fibromyalgia syndrome
NEECK, G., & RIEDEL, W. (1999) · Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1111/j.1749-6632.1999.tb07657.x · Cited by 43 · see citing works
Abnormal stress responsiveness and suicidal behavior: a risk phenotype
Steinberg, L. J., & Mann, J. J. (2020) · Biomarkers in Neuropsychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.bionps.2020.100011 · Cited by 29 · see citing works
- Authors
- Starkman, M. N., Schteingart, D. E., & Schork, A. M.
- Affiliations
- University of Michigan (US)
- Venue
- Psychosomatic Medicine
- Published
- 1981-02
- Volume
- 43
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 3-18
- ISSN
- 0033-3174 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W1999790101
- Cited by
- 289
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 9 · 2014: 7 · 2013: 6 · 2012: 6
- FWCI
- 14.93
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Psychosomatic Medicine (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism › Pituitary Gland Disorders and Treatments
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Behavioral Neuroscience › Stress Responses and Cortisol
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism › Adrenal Hormones and Disorders
- Keywords
- Cushing's syndrome, depressive mood, psychiatric symptoms, cortisol, ACTH, mood disorders, cognitive impairment, low libido, insomnia, hypercortisolism
- MeSH terms
- Adrenocorticotropic Hormone, Adult, Cognition Disorders, Cushing Syndrome, Depressive Disorder, Female, Humans, Hydrocortisone, Male, Middle Aged
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
