Sex differences of salivary cortisol secretion in patients with major depression

Figures & data

Table I.  Demographic variables of study participants.

	Men			Women
	Men DEP N = 15	Men HC N = 15	p	Women DEP N = 37	Women HC N = 35	p
Age (SD)	36.7 (10.2)	36.3 (9.7)	n.s.	34.9 (12.2)	35.0 (12.4)	n.s.
Education (years)	11.4	11.3	n.s.	11.2	11.5	n.s.
BMI (SD)	24.8 (6.5)	25.1 (4.0)	n.s.	24.0 (6.6)	22.3 (3.2)	n.s.
Smokers	53%	40%	n.s.	49%	23%	0.02
BDI (SD)	28.1 (13.1)	2.6 (2.5)	< 0.01	32.0 (8.3)	3.5 (2.8)	< 0.01
HAMD (SD)	26.8 (5.4)	n.a.	n.a.	27.4 (4.1)	n.a.	n.a.
Oral contraceptives	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	6	8	n.s.

Note: BDI, Beck Depression Inventory; BMI, body mass index; HAMD, Hamilton Depression Scale; DEP, depressed patients; HC, healthy control subjects; n.a., not applicable; n.s., not significant.

Figure 1.  Salivary cortisol secretion in depressed patients (37 women and 15 men) and healthy controls (35 women and 15 men). Repeated measures ANCOVA (adjusted for smoking) revealed a group × sex interaction [p = 0.05]. Post hoc tests revealed significantly higher cortisol in depressed men than in healthy matched male controls [p = 0.01], whereas no significant differences were found between depressed and non-depressed women. DEP, depressed patients; HC, healthy controls. Lines represent group means, and error bars represent SEM.