AGE-RELATED CLINICAL AND CHRONOBIOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF CYCLIC DEPRESSION DEVELOPMENT AND TREATMENT
In the course of this investigation, 141 patients with cyclic depression have been examined by means of clinical method. In order to investigate age-related chronobiological characteristics of cyclic depression development and treatment, in 56 patients spectral analysis has been used that allows to determine the parameters of vegetative regulation in cardiovascular system and also to estimate indirectly the functioning of hypothalamic structures. Specifically, the low and high frequency (LF and HF) spectrum parameters have been determined. Only repeated depression phases are included in investigation. The measurements were made 4 times a day (1, 7, 13 and 19 oclock) on admission, then at the end of the first week of medication and on discharge from the hospital. Depending on the age, all the patients were divided into two groups. Group 1 included 35 patients aged 19 to 49 years (average age 41.0±1.4 years), Group 2 included 21 patients aged 50 to 73 years (average age 56.6±1.4 years). Baseline more pronounced circadian desynchronization phenomena showed in the morning and at night in Group 1, and in the afternoon in Group 2. Already at the initial phase of medication, Group 1 showed a tendency to resynchronization in the afternoon and at night while Group 2 showed slight increase of desynchronization 24 hours a day. On discharge, resynchronization was more complete in Group 1, though one could expect a faster and better resynchronization in older group due to general shift of circadian rhythms in direction of late hours. The data obtained testify to decrease of compensatory capacities of the body in the course of aging, which is also reflected in therapeutic dynamics of depression.