DHEA May Improve Midlife Depression

CHICAGO--Recent research from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has found DHEA supplementation may be an effective treatment of midlife onset minor and major depression. The double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, crossover treatment study was published in the February issue of Archives of General Psychiatry (http://archpsyc.ama-assn.org/), an American Medical Association (AMA) journal. DHEA (dehydroepiandrosterone) is an adrenal androgen and neurosteroid available as an over-the-counter (OTC) hormone therapy supplement.

Peter Schmidt, M.D., and his research team from the Behavioral Endocrinology branch of NIMH studied 23 men and 23 women aged 45 to 65 with midlife onset of major or minor depression of moderate severity. The subjects were given either six weeks of DHEA therapy--90 mg/d for the first three weeks and 450 mg/d for the second three weeks--or six weeks of placebo treatment. Researchers evaluated subjects every three and six weeks using the Hamilton Depression Scale (HDS), Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale and the Derogatis Interview for Sexual Functioning Scale. They recorded a 50-percent or more reduction of baseline HDS score in 23 patients after DHEA supplementation and in 13 patients after placebo treatment. The scientists also noted six weeks of DHEA treatment was associated with significant improvements in Derogatis scores relative to baseline and placebo conditions.

At present, there are no predictors of response, and with a 50-percent response rate, one would obviously select more reliable first-line treatments for this condition, the study authors wrote. However, in the 50 percent of depressed outpatients who do not respond to first-line antidepressant treatment, or in those unwilling to take traditional antidepressants, DHEA may have a useful role in the treatment of mild to moderately severe midlife-onset major and minor depression.