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The prevalence and severity of depressive symptoms along the spectrum of unipolar depressive disorders: a post hoc analysis
- Source :
- The Journal of clinical psychiatry. 74(11)
- Publication Year :
- 2012
-
Abstract
- Objective To explore which symptoms are common in patients who experience a range of symptom severity that spans minor depression and major depressive disorder (MDD). Method A post hoc analysis of subjects entering outpatient, pharmacologic treatment studies for minor depression or MDD who provided baseline data on the Inventory for Depressive Symptomatology-Clinician Rated (IDS-C) was performed in November 2000. The minor depression sample included 161 patients diagnosed according to the National Institute of Mental Health Diagnostic Interview Schedule, while the MDD subjects included 969 subjects diagnosed according to the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R. Descriptive statistics were calculated for the total IDS-C score and for each item-rating score for both groups. The percentages of patients within the low, medium, and high severity groups of minor depression and MDD endorsing each IDS-C item were calculated and used to identify specific patterns of prevalence across the 6 groups: symptoms with high prevalence in all groups (core symptoms), those with increasing prevalence across groups (continuum symptoms), and those that become prominent only at a certain threshold of illness severity. Results The mean (SD) IDS-C score was 21.18 (5.37) for minor depression patients, while it was 37.14 (7.27) for the MDD patients (P = .0001). Ten items pertaining mostly to mood state and cognition were identified as "core" symptoms of depression based on their high prevalence in all groups. Fourteen items consisting mostly of neurovegetative and somatic symptoms were identified as "continuum" symptoms based on their general pattern of increasing prevalence across the 6 severity groups. Four "threshold" symptoms, including suicidal ideation, psychomotor slowing, gastrointestinal symptoms, and panic/phobic symptoms, were prevalent in only the most severely depressed groups. Conclusions The presence of core, continuum, and threshold depressive symptoms indicates central features of both minor depression and MDD as well as symptoms that increase or emerge with depressive illness severity. Some of the core symptoms of minor depression and MDD are not included in DSM depressive criteria or traditional assessment rating scales.
- Subjects :
- Adult
Male
medicine.medical_specialty
Psychometrics
Personality Inventory
Cross-sectional study
behavioral disciplines and activities
Cohort Studies
Diagnosis, Differential
Rating scale
mental disorders
Post-hoc analysis
Activities of Daily Living
medicine
Humans
Psychiatry
Suicidal ideation
Depression (differential diagnoses)
Depressive Disorder, Major
Depression
Panic
Reproducibility of Results
Middle Aged
medicine.disease
Psychiatry and Mental health
Cross-Sectional Studies
Quality of Life
Major depressive disorder
Female
medicine.symptom
Dysthymic Disorder
Psychology
Clinical psychology
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 15552101
- Volume :
- 74
- Issue :
- 11
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- The Journal of clinical psychiatry
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....4ec2045e0d7606ec89e3c8232f983270