ABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To compare skin sympathetic response(SSR) between patients with generalized anxiety disorder(GAD) and patients with major depression disorder(MDD).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The latency and amplitude of SSR wave were measured in 30 GAD patients and 30 MDD patients, before and after 8-week treatment of anti-anxiety or anti-depression drugs. Thirty age and sex-matched healthy subjects served as healthy controls (HC).</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Before the treatment, the latency of SSR in GAD patients was significantly shorter than that in HC group, while the amplitude was significantly higher than that in the HC (P<0.05). In MDD group, the latency before the treatment was significantly longer than that in the HC,while the amplitude was significantly lower than that in the HC (P <0.05). After treatment,the latency of SSR in GAD group was extended compared to the baseline level, and close to the level of the HC. The amplitude of SSR in GAD group became lower after treatment, but still higher than that of control group. The latency of SSR in MDD patients was significantly shorter after treatment compared to baseline level (P <0.05). In addition, the latency of SSR in MDD group was still longer than that in GAD group (P<0.05); meanwhile,the amplitude of SSR in MDD group was significantly lower that in GAD group (P<0.001). SSR parameters were positively correlated with HAMA and HAMD scores with a correlation coefficient of 0.57 and 0.73, respectively.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>There are significant differences in SSR parameters between patients with GAD and patients with MDD,indicating that SSR can be used as an objective index to distinguish anxiety from depression.</p>