Comparison of short-term (saliva) and long-term (hair) cortisol levels in out-patients with melancholic and non-melancholic major depression.

The contrasting short- and long-term cortisol output results are compatible with an alteration in the rhythm of cortisol secretion in NM-MDEs. This alteration may consist of large and/or intense episodes of hypercortisolaemia in moderate NM-MDEs and frequent, but brief and sharp early-morning DELTAs in its severe form. These changes may reflect the effects of environmental factors or episodes of nocturnal hypercortisolaemia that were not measured by the short-term samples used in this study.