Verhoeven Floor E A, Booij Linda, Van der Wee Nic J A, Penninx Brenda W H J, Van der Does A J Willem
Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, Institute of Psychology, Leiden University, Wassenaarseweg 52, 2333 AK Leiden, The Netherlands.
Depress Res Treat. 2011;2011:126895. doi: 10.1155/2011/126895. Epub 2011 Oct 26.
Objective. Irritable and nonirritable depressed patients differ on demographic and clinical characteristics. We investigated whether this extends to psychological and physiological measures. Method. We compared irritable and nonirritable unipolar depressed patients on symptomatology, personality, and (psycho)physiological measures (cortisol, cholesterol, and heart rate variability). Symptomatology was reassessed after one year, and we also compared depressed patients who were irritable or non-irritable at both time points (Irr++ versus Irr--). Results. Almost half (46%; N = 420) of the sample was classified as irritable. These patients scored higher on depression severity, anxiety, hypomanic symptoms, and psychological variables. No differences were observed on physiological markers after correction for depression severity. The same pattern was found when comparing Irr++ and Irr-- groups. Conclusion. Irritable and non-irritable depressed patients differ on clinical and psychological variables, but not on the currently investigated physiological markers. The clinical relevance of the distinction and the significance of the hypomanic symptoms remain to be demonstrated.
目的。易激惹性抑郁患者与非易激惹性抑郁患者在人口统计学和临床特征方面存在差异。我们研究了这种差异是否也体现在心理和生理指标上。方法。我们比较了易激惹性单相抑郁患者和非易激惹性单相抑郁患者在症状学、人格以及（心理）生理指标（皮质醇、胆固醇和心率变异性）方面的差异。一年后对症状学进行了重新评估，并且我们还比较了在两个时间点均为易激惹性或均为非易激惹性的抑郁患者（易激惹++组与易激惹--组）。结果。几乎一半（46%；N = 420）的样本被归类为易激惹性。这些患者在抑郁严重程度、焦虑、轻躁狂症状和心理变量方面得分更高。在对抑郁严重程度进行校正后，未观察到生理指标存在差异。在比较易激惹++组和易激惹--组时也发现了相同的模式。结论。易激惹性抑郁患者与非易激惹性抑郁患者在临床和心理变量方面存在差异，但在所研究的当前生理指标上没有差异。这种区分的临床相关性以及轻躁狂症状的意义仍有待证明。
