Growth hormone responses to hypoglycemia in postmenopausal depressed women.

Human growth hormone (HGH) responses to insulin-induced hypoglycemia were measured in ten postmenopausal women suffering from primary unipolar depressive illness, and in ten age-matched normal postmenopausal women. The mean maximal HGH response in the depressed patients was 4.6 plus or minus 4.4 ng/ml, and in the normals 13.3 plus or minus 9.8 ng/ml (P less than .05). All of the normal subjects had clinically adequate HGH responses, in contrast to only four of the depressed patients (P less than .01). The blood glucose responses were virtually the same in the two groups. Since brain catecholamines play a major role in mediating HGH responses to hypoglycemia, the findings are consistent with the hypothesis of diminished functional catecholaminergic activity in the depressed patients.