Shanghai Mental Health Centre, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, No. 600 South Wan Ping Road, Shanghai 200030, PR China.
J Affect Disord. 2011 Dec;135(1-3):89-94. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2011.06.056. Epub 2011 Jul 22.
Individuals with early-onset depression may be a clinically distinct group with particular symptom patterns, illness course, comorbidity and family history. This question has not been previously investigated in a Han Chinese population.
We examined the clinical features of 1970 Han Chinese women with DSM-IV major depressive disorder (MDD) between 30 and 60 years of age across China. Analysis of linear, logistic and multiple logistic regression models was used to determine the association between age at onset (AAO) with continuous, binary and discrete characteristic clinical features of MDD.
Earlier AAO was associated with more suicidal ideation and attempts and higher neuroticism, but fewer sleep, appetite and weight changes. Patients with an earlier AAO were more likely to suffer a chronic course (longer illness duration, more MDD episodes and longer index episode), increased rates of MDD in their parents and a lower likelihood of marriage. They tend to have higher comorbidity with anxiety disorders (general anxiety disorder, social phobia and agoraphobia) and dysthymia.
Early AAO in MDD may be an index of a more severe, highly comorbid and familial disorder. Our findings indicate that the features of MDD in China are similar to those reported elsewhere in the world.
早发性抑郁症患者可能是一个具有特殊症状模式、疾病进程、合并症和家族史的临床独特群体。这个问题以前没有在汉族人群中进行过调查。
我们在中国各地研究了 1970 名年龄在 30 至 60 岁之间、符合 DSM-IV 重性抑郁障碍（MDD）标准的汉族女性。使用线性、逻辑和多项逻辑回归模型分析，以确定发病年龄（AAO）与 MDD 的连续、二项和离散特征临床特征之间的关联。
较早的 AAO 与更多的自杀意念和自杀企图以及更高的神经质有关，但与睡眠、食欲和体重变化较少有关。较早发病的患者更有可能经历慢性病程（更长的病程、更多的 MDD 发作和更长的指数发作）、父母患 MDD 的比率增加，以及婚姻的可能性降低。他们往往与焦虑障碍（广泛性焦虑障碍、社交恐惧症和广场恐惧症）和心境恶劣障碍的合并症更高。
MDD 的早发性 AAO 可能是更严重、高度合并症和家族性疾病的指标。我们的研究结果表明，中国 MDD 的特征与世界其他地方报告的特征相似。
