Background:
Borderline personality disorder (BPD) might be associated with hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis dysregulation. Previous studies in adult BPD samples have been equivocal possibly because of confounding factors, such as chronicity of BPD and associated comorbidity. Studying firstpresentation adolescent BPD samples minimizes these confounds.
Methods:
Twenty BPD (15 women, mean age 17.3 years) and 20 healthy control participants (15 women, mean age 19.0 years) underwent magnetic resonance imaging scanning. Pituitary gland volumes (PGVs) were estimated and compared between the groups and also within the BPD group, based upon exposure to childhood trauma.
Results:
PGV did not differ between patients with BPD and controls (P = 0.6; effect size = 0.19). Patients with BPD exposed to childhood trauma (n = 9) had smaller (−18%) pituitaries compared with patients with BPD with no exposure to childhood trauma (n = 10; P = 0.1; Effect size = 0.74).
Conclusions:
These findings suggest that exposure to trauma, rather than BPD per se, might be associated with altered PGV, possibly reflecting HPA dysfunction.