Early parental loss and depressive disorder in Japan

Kunugi, Hiroshi; N, Sugawara; Aoki, Hirotaka; Nanko, Shinichiro; Hirose, Tetsuya; Kazamatsuri, Hajime

doi:10.1007/bf02190737

Cited by 26 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…It has been reported that girls are more vulnerable to develop depression after parental loss than boys (Kunugi et al, 1995). Because the neuroendocrine stress response is subject to sex differences (Rhodes and Rubin, 1999), one might speculate that differential disease risk after ELE might be associated with different neuroendocrine consequences of ELE in boys and girls.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Decreased cortisol awakening response after early loss experience

Meinlschmidt

Heim

2005

Psychoneuroendocrinology

139

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SummaryEarly loss experience (ELE) due to death or separation is a major risk factor for the development of several psychiatric and physical disorders in adulthood. Few studies have focused on the effects of ELE on neuroendocrine systems, which might mediate this risk in part. The goal of this study was to evaluate salivary cortisol responses to awakening in individuals with and without ELE. A total of 95 healthy college students (29 men, 66 women) completed a questionnaire on ELE and were instructed to collect saliva immediately after awakening and 30 minutes later. Fifty-five of the 95 subjects reported having experienced the separation or divorce of their parents and/or the death of a close relative before the age of 14 years. Subjects with such ELE exhibited decreased salivary cortisol responses to awakening compared to subjects without ELE (net increase: 4.78 nmol/l versus 9.83 nmol/l; t 93 =2.88, p=.005). The effect was most pronounced in individuals who experienced multiple types of ELE, while there were no sex differences. In conclusion, ELE appears to be associated with decreased salivary cortisol responses to awakening. Low cortisol awakening responses are believed to reflect altered dynamics of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, possibly conferring risk for certain stress-related disorders.[200 words]

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Decreased cortisol awakening response after early loss experience

Meinlschmidt

Heim

2005

Psychoneuroendocrinology

139

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“…More rigorous comparisons with medical controls have tended not to find a significant difference, [16][17][18] with exceptions. 19 Lack of association of death of a parent in childhood with adult depression is particularly true of studies which employed an epidemiological approach. [20][21][22] (2) Differences between depressed patients and controls with regard to separation experiences (of variable length) have tended to become more definitive as the methodological rigor of case control studies has increased 18,23 and are a relatively consistent finding in epidemiologically based samples.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…[20][21][22] (2) Differences between depressed patients and controls with regard to separation experiences (of variable length) have tended to become more definitive as the methodological rigor of case control studies has increased 18,23 and are a relatively consistent finding in epidemiologically based samples. [20][21][22] (3) There is a trend for loss of mother to be more associated with depression than loss of father, 19,24 but this finding is not consistent. 20,23 (4) Loss in early childhood has been reported to be of greater pathogenic significance than loss in later childhood and adolescence 24,25 but this was not observed in all studies.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…20,23 (4) Loss in early childhood has been reported to be of greater pathogenic significance than loss in later childhood and adolescence 24,25 but this was not observed in all studies. 20 (5) Loss in females, 19 particularly of mother, 23 may be more associated with later development of depression than loss in males. However, many influential studies of EPL have encompassed exclusively female samples 21,20,24 and studies which examined exclusively male populations have also found an association of loss with depression.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Environment and vulnerability to major psychiatric illness: a case control study of early parental loss in major depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia

Agid¹,

et al. 1999

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The current focus on identifying genes which predispose to psychiatric illness sharpens the need to identify environmental factors which interact with genetic predisposition and thus contribute to the multifactorial causation of these disorders. One such factor may be early parental loss (EPL). The putative relationship between early environmental stressors such as parental loss and psychopathology in adult life has intrigued psychiatrists for most of this century. We report a case control study in which rates of EPL, due to parental death or permanent separation before the age of 17 years were evaluated in patients with major depression (MD), bipolar disorder (BPD) and schizophrenia (SCZ), compared to individually matched, healthy control subjects (MD-Control, 79 pairs; BPD-Control, 79 pairs; SCZ-Control, 76 pairs). Loss of parent during childhood significantly increased the likelihood of developing MD during adult life (OR = 3.8, P = 0.001). The effect of loss due to permanent separation (P = 0.008) was more striking than loss due to death, as was loss before the age of 9 years (OR = 11.0, P = 0.003) compared to later childhood and adolescence. The overall rate of EPL was also increased in BPD (OR = 2.6, P = 0.048) but there were no significant findings in any of the subcategories of loss. A significantly increased rate of EPL was observed in schizophrenia patients (OR = 3.8, P = 0.01), particularly before the age of 9 years (OR = 4.3, P = 0.01). Comparison of psychosocial, medical and clinical characteristics of subjects with and without a history of EPL, within the larger patient groups from which the matched samples were drawn (MD, n = 136; BPD, n = 107; SCZ, n = 160), yielded few significant findings. Among the controls (n = 170), however, subjects who had experienced EPL, reported lower incomes, had been divorced more frequently, were more likely to be living alone, were more likely to smoke or have smoked cigarettes and reported more physical illness (P = 0.03-0.001). Long term neurobiological consequences of early environmental stressors such as maternal deprivation have been extensively studied in many animal species. Recently, enduring changes in hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis function, including corticotrophin releasing factor gene expression, have received particular attention. Analogous processes may be implicated in the effect of EPL on human vulnerability to psychopathology, via alterations in responsiveness to stress. Genetic predisposition may influence the degree of susceptibility of the individual to the effects of early environmental stress and may also determine the psychopathological entity to which the individual is rendered vulnerable as a consequence of the stress.

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“…Reviews conducted in the late 80s concluded that, although there is no evidence that parental death is a significant risk factor for depression, separations, particularly those occurring in the context of family discord, seem to contribute to adult depression (Brown et al, 1986;Tennant, 1988). Studies based on patients who were hospitalized for severe depression and/or attempted suicide have found a higher prevalence of parental death among severe depressed subjects than in the general population (Kunugi et al, 1995;Munro, 1966).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Different Types of Childhood Adverse Experiences and Mood Disorders

Alciati¹

2012

Clinical, Research and Treatment Approaches to Affective Disorders

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Early parental loss and depressive disorder in Japan

Cited by 26 publications

References 21 publications

Decreased cortisol awakening response after early loss experience

Decreased cortisol awakening response after early loss experience

Environment and vulnerability to major psychiatric illness: a case control study of early parental loss in major depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia

Different Types of Childhood Adverse Experiences and Mood Disorders

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