H. Murat Emül

High serum leptin levels in depressive disorders with atypical features

Abstract  Leptin is thought to be related to vegetative symptoms of depression such as alterations in food intake and weight. Fifty‐seven drug‐free patients and 26 healthy controls were enrolled in this study. We have found that the serum leptin levels were higher in patients with atypical depressive disorder than in controls, but not in patients with nonatypical depressive disorder, however, body mass index, age, and gender were not significantly different between these groups. Probably, these findings seem to be associated with some features of the atypical depressive disorders such as weight gain, a result of hyperphagia.

Ghrelin and leptin levels in patients with obsessive–compulsive disorder

To examine the importance of ghrelin and leptin in the pathogenesis of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), we measured serum ghrelin and leptin levels, lipid profile and body mass index (BMI) in 43 patients with OCD and 20 healthy controls. The patients were divided into two subgroups according to whether DSM-IV OCD was accompanied with major depressive disorder (MDD) (OCD+MDD) or not (OCD-MDD). There was no statistically significant difference in ghrelin and leptin levels between groups. The OCD+MDD group had a trend of higher ghrelin levels and lower leptin levels than the OCD-MDD and control groups. There was a negative correlation between change in serum ghrelin and leptin levels only in the OCD+MDD group. Neither ghrelin nor leptin showed any correlation with severity of MDD and OCD. In conclusion, our results suggest that OCD is not associated with leptin or ghrelin levels. More comprehensive and detailed studies are needed to decipher the exact role of ghrelin and leptin in OCD.

The prevalence of panic disorder in pregnant women during the third trimester of pregnancy

OBJECTIVE The principal aim of this study was to assess the current prevalence rate of panic disorder (PD) in pregnant women during the third trimester of pregnancy. The second aim of the present study was to investigate the clinical characteristics of PD in pregnant and nonpregnant women. METHOD The study data were gathered from 512 consecutive women in the third trimester of pregnancy who were admitted to the obstetric outpatient clinics of 2 university research centers. The diagnosis of PD was determined by means of the Structured Clinical Interview for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition Axis I disorders in the third trimester of pregnancy. Within the same period, the Panic and Agoraphobia Scale was used to determine the severity of PD. In addition, we compared the clinical characteristics of PD in gravid subjects (n = 13) with their control group. A control group was composed of 19 consecutive nonpregnant female outpatients diagnosed with PD who presented to the psychiatric outpatient clinics of the same hospitals. RESULTS The prevalence rate of PD was found to be 2.5% (n = 13) among the subjects in the third trimester of pregnancy. Of these 13 pregnant, 7 subjects reported that PD developed during the 6th to 28th weeks of their gestation, and the number of subjects who experienced PD symptoms before pregnancy was 6. In addition, there was no statistically difference between gravid and nongravid PD cases with regard to the severity of panic symptoms. CONCLUSION Our study suggests that PD may be common among pregnant females during the third trimester of pregnancy and seems to be associated with similar clinical features during gestation and nongestation.

The impact of obsessive-compulsive disorder in pregnancy on quality of life

Aim. To examine the effects of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) on quality of life in pregnant women. Material and method. Twenty-five pregnant women diagnosed as OCD in two university outpatient clinics were included for the study. Twenty-five pregnant women with no mental disorders and the same sociodemographic properties were taken as the control group. The diagnosis of OCD was confirmed with the DSM-IV Axis-I Disorders Structured Clinic Interview Diagnosis/Clinic Version (SCID-I/CV). In order to measure the severity of OCD Yale-Brown Obsession and Compulsion Scale was performed. Quality of life was evaluated by WHO (World Health Organisation) Life Quality Scale – Short Form (WHOQOL-Brief). Results. The whole subgroup of points of WHOQOL-Brief was significantly lower in OCD patients compared to control group (in all subgroups P<0.01). There was a negative correlation between the Y-BOCS obsession and compulsion subpoints and total points with the physical health (P <0.05), psychological health (P <0.001) and social relationship (P <0.01) of WHOQOL-Brief. No significant association was found with enviromental areas. Besides, there was a negative correlation between the duration of OCD and WHOQOL-Brief psychological health subarea (P <0.05). Conclusion. OCD negatively effects the quality of life in pregnant women and is correlated with the severity of the disorder.