Clinical Science Brown Bag: DHEA/Cortisol ratios in adolescents at high and low familial risk for depression

Abstract: Teens at familial risk for depression are more likely to develop depression than their low risk peers. One proposed mechanism for this greater prevalence of depression in high-risk teens is impaired ability to regulate stress. As such, an understanding of the hormones involved in stress processing can help elucidate these mechanisms. While much of this work has focused on the release of the stress hormone cortisol, there is growing evidence that the neuroprotective hormone dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) may play a critical role in stress regulation and that the ratios of DHEA to cortisol may provide more meaningful information about individual differences in stress processing than either hormone alone. This talk will explore various conceptualizations of DHEA to cortisol ratios and will present implications for using ratios to help understand mechanisms of risk for psychopathology in adolescents at high familial risk for psychopathology.