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. 2019 Nov 20;17(4):487-494.
doi: 10.9758/cpn.2019.17.4.487.

The Interaction of Oxytocin and Social Support, Loneliness, and Cortisol Level in Major Depression

Tsung-Yu Tsai  1 , Huai-Hsuan Tseng  1   2 , Mei Hung Chi  1 , Hui Hua Chang  3   4   5   6 , Cheng-Kuan Wu  1 , Yen Kuang Yang  1   2 , Po See Chen  1   2   7
Affiliations

The Interaction of Oxytocin and Social Support, Loneliness, and Cortisol Level in Major Depression

Tsung-Yu Tsai et al. Clin Psychopharmacol Neurosci. .

Abstract

Objective: Loneliness is a specific risk factor for depressive symptoms and suicidal behavior. The present study examined whether the serum oxytocin level would interact with social support and buffers loneliness and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA)-axis activity in drug-naïve patients with major depressive disorder (MDD).

Methods: Twenty-six patients with MDD (male:female = 3:23; mean age, 45.54 ± 12.97 years) were recruited. The 17-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, UCLA Loneliness Scale and self-reported Measurement of Support Function Questionnaire were administered. Serum oxytocin and cortisol levels were assessed using a commercial immunoassay kits.

Results: In MDD patients, a negative association was found between degrees of social support and loneliness (β= -0.39, p = 0.04). The interaction between social support and serum oxytocin level was negatively associated with loneliness (β= -0.50, p = 0.017) and serum cortisol level (β= -0.55, p = 0.020) after adjusting for age. Follow-up analyses showed that the association between higher social support and lower loneliness was observed only in the higher-oxytocin group (r = -0.75, p = 0.003) but not in the lower group (r = -0.19, p = 0.53). The significance remained after further adjusting for sex and depression severity.

Conclusion: Low oxytocin level is a vulnerability factor for the buffering effect of social support for loneliness and aberrant HPA-axis activity in MDD patients.

Keywords: Cortisol; Loneliness; Major depressive disorder; Oxytocin; Social support..

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest

No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Scatter plot between Measurement of Support Function (MSF) score and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) loneliness score in both of high and low oxytocin groups.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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