ABSTRACT
The present study was planned to assess the variation in serum electrolytes in patients of major depression. A total of 100 patients of 35– 45 yrs of age (68 males and 32 females) of depression were compared with the age matched healthy volunteers. Severity of depression was assessed by DSM IV criteria and were graded into mild, moderate and severe depression. In all the subjects serum electrolytes (Na+, K+, Mg++ and Ca++) were assessed quantitatively. All the depression patients were having higher level of Na+, K+, and Ca++ and lower level of Mg++. Multivariate analysis showed that different grades of depression influences statistically significantly levels of serum Mg++ and Ca++ (F2,98 for Mg++ = 4.88, P value = 0.001 and F2,98 for Ca++ = 5.97, P value = 0.004). No statistically significant difference was observed for Na+ and K+ although their values were higher (within normal limit) in comparison to that of control group. Multiple comparison revealed highly statistically significant difference between the levels of serum Ca and Mg individually between mild and moderate depression (S V(mild & mod) for Ca++; Mg++ = 7.1; 7.4) moderate & severe depression (S V(mod & severe) for Ca++; Mg++ = 6.82; 6.92) and mild & severe depression patients (S V(mild & severe) for Ca++; Mg++ = 7.46; 7.73) with critical value = 6.36. These results indicated the disbalance in the level of serum electrolytes especially of Ca and Mg in accordance with the severity of depression.