Childhood stressful events, HPA axis and anxiety disorders

Table 3 Hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis functioning and its correlation with psychopathology in obsessive compulsive disordered patients

Author	Control group	Sample	Cortisol levels	Other hormones levels	DST	Correlations with psychopathology
Monteleone et al[91], 1994	13 HC	13 drug-free OCD patients	↑ Plasma cortisol cyrcadian rhythm	-	-	↑ Severity of OCD symptoms
Kluge et al[86], 2007	9 HC	9 OCD inpatients w/o comorbid depression	↑ Plasma levels	↑ Plasma ACTH	-	-
Catapano et al[89], 1990	20 HC	18 OCD patients	-	-	27.7% non-suppression	Correlated with sex (all non suppressors were males) and independently of depression
Coryell et al[92], 1989	82 panic disordered patients	20 OCD outpatients	-	-	=	-
Altemus et al[90], 1992	25 HC	12 OCD subjects	-	↑ CSF CRH; ↑ plasma and CSF AVP	-	↑ Psychopathology

HC: Healthy controls; DST: Dexamethasone suppression test; CSF: Cerebrospinal fluid; CRH: Corticotropin releasing hormone; AVP: Arginine vasopressin; OCD: Obsessive-compulsive disorder; ACTH: Adrenocorticotropin hormone.