ArticleBMC psychiatry2026
Correlation between clinical features of acute episode of major depressive disorder and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA) function: a cross-sectional study.
Article in BMC psychiatry, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesFocusing on the acute phase of major depressive disorder(MDD), this study aimed to systematically explore the specific correlations between core functional markers of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and the seven factor dimensions of the 24-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD-24), moving beyond the conventional coarse-grained analytical framework that only associates HPA axis activity with the overall diagnostic status of depression to provide refined clinical evidence for elucidating the pathophysiological role of the HPA axis at the symptomatic dimensional level.
methodsNinety-nine outpatients with acute episodes of MDD and Eighty-seven healthy controls were selected. Serum samples were collected once in the morning from both groups to measure the serum cortisol levels. Multiple dimensions of clinical characteristics of the depressive group was assessed using the HAMD-24.
resultsSerum cortisol levels during acute depression episodes were significantly higher than those in the healthy control group. In the MDD group, serum cortisol levels were significantly positively correlated with the anxiety, cognitive impairment, diurnal variation and retardation factors and the total HAMD-24 score (ρ > 0, P < 0.05). It tended to be positively not significantly correlated with the despair factor (ρ > 0, P > 0.05), and tended to be negatively but not significantly correlated with the weight and sleep disturbance factors (ρ < 0, P > 0.05).
conclusionThese findings refine HPA axis pathophysiology understanding in acute MDD, emphasizing symptom-specific associations over generalized depressive status links. Aberrant HPA axis activity emerges as a potential biological marker for acute MDD and a promising novel therapeutic target for antidepressant development. CLINICAL TRIAL NUMBER: Not applicable.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.