Depression makes people look older

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

STRESS has numerous detrimental effects on the human body.

Many of these effects are acutely felt by the victims, but many more go ‘unseen’, one of which is shortening of telomere length.

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Telomeres are protective caps on the ends of chromosomes and are indicators of aging, as they naturally shorten over time. However, telomeres are also highly susceptible to stress and depression, both of which have repeatedly been linked to premature telomere shortening.

The human stress response is regulated by the hypothalamic – pituitary - adrenal axis (HPA). This axis controls the body’s levels of cortisol, the primary stress hormone, and it generally does not function normally in individuals with depression and stress-related illnesses.

Scientists of a new study published this week in Biological Psychiatry sought to bring all this prior work together by studying the relationships between telomere length, stress and depression.

They did so by measuring telomere length in patients with major depressive disorder and in healthy individuals. They also measured stress, both biologically, by measuring cortisol levels, and subjectively through a questionnaire.

They found the telomere length was shorter in the depressed patients which confirmed prior findings. Importantly, they also discovered the shorter telomere length was associated with a low cortisol state in both the depressed and healthy groups.

One of the authors of the American book “Psychology Journal” published this year, Dr. Mikael Wikgren explained, “Our findings suggest stress plays an important role in depression as telomere length was especially shortened in patients exhibiting an overly sensitive HPA axis. This HPA axis response is something which has been linked to chronic stress and with poor ability to cope with stress.”

“The link between stress and telomere shortening is growing stronger. The current findings suggest cortisol levels may be a contributor to this process, but it is not yet clear whether telomere length has significance beyond the biomarker,” commented the book’s editor Dr. John Krystal.

Future studies are needed to determine whether normalizing telomere length is important in the treatment process.