The purpose of a study by O’Brien et al. (A-13) was to assess hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal

(HPA) axis function (known to be altered in depression) in patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD)

by means of the adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH) test, which assesses adrenal function by measuring cortisol production by the adrenal gland in response to an injection of ACTH. AD subjects (mean age 69.9 years with standard deviation of 9.8) were recruited from referrals to a hospital memory clinic. Normal control subjects consisted of spouses of patients and residents of a retirement hostel (mean age 73.8 with standard deviation of 11.6). There were eight males and eight females in the AD group and 10 males and eight females in the control group. Among the data collected were the following observations on age (C1), age at onset for AD subjects (C2), length of history of disease in months (C3), cognitive examination score (C4), peak cortisol level

(C5), and total hormone response (C6):

Alzheimer’s Disease Subjects Controls C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 73 69 48 75 400.00 44610 70   97 419.00 53175 87 83 48 39 565.00 63855 81   93 470.00 54285 60 54 72 67 307.00 31110 82   93 417.00 47160 62 57 60 64 335.00 36000 57   101 215.00 27120 75 70 48 51 352.00 44760 87   91 244.00 23895 63 60 24 79 426.00 47250 88   88 355.00 33565 81 77 48 51 413.00 51825 87   91 392.00 42810 66 64 24 61 402.00 41745 70   100 354.00 45105 78 73 60 32 518.00 66030 63   103 457.00 48765 72 64 72 61 505.00 49905 87   81 323.00 39360 69 65 48 73 427.00 55350 73   94 386.00 48150 76 73 36 63 409.00 51960 87   91 244.00 25830 46 41 60 73 333.00 33030 58   103 353.00 42060 77 75 18 63 591.00 73125 85   93 335.00 37425 64 61 36 59 559.00 60750 58   99 470.00 55140 72 69 30 47 511.00 54945 67   100 346.00 50745 68   100 262.00 28440 62   93 271.00 23595  ¼ Not applicable.
Source: Data provided courtesy of Dr. John T. O’Brien.