Acetaminophen (Tylenol) for Mood and Memory Changes Associated With Corticosteroid Therapy

Studies in humans and animals support that stress and/or elevations in corticosteroids lead to changes in hippocampal structure and functioning. This is important as patients with major depression frequently have elevated cortisol, and millions of patients receive prescription corticosteroids (e.g. prednisone). Both depression and corticosteroid therapy are associated with memory impairment and hippocampal atrophy. Our research uses corticosteroid-treated patients to explore interventions that might protect the brain from the effects of stress or corticosteroids. We propose to give 30 corticosteroid-treated asthma patients acetaminophen or placebo. Between group differences in mood, memory and other neurocognitive measures will serve as outcome measures.