Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy III, Ulm University, Ulm, Germany.
Institute of Psychology and Education, Department of Molecular Psychology, Ulm University, Ulm, Germany.
BMC Psychiatry. 2021 Mar 25;21(1):167. doi: 10.1186/s12888-021-03166-6.
An early onset of depression is associated with higher chronicity and disability, more stressful life events (SLEs), higher negative emotionality as described by the primary emotion SADNESS and more severe depressive symptomatology compared to depression onset later in life. Additionally, methylation of the serotonin transporter gene (SLC6A4) is associated with SLEs and depressive symptoms.
We investigated the relation of SLEs, SLC6A4 methylation in peripheral blood, the primary emotions SADNESS and SEEKING (measured by the Affective Neuroscience Personality Scales) as well as depressive symptom severity to age at depression onset in a sample of N = 146 inpatients suffering from major depression.
Depressed women showed higher SADNESS (t (91.05) = - 3.17, p = 0.028, d = - 0.57) and higher SLC6A4 methylation (t (88.79) = - 2.95, p = 0.02, d = - 0.55) compared to men. There were associations between SLEs, primary emotions and depression severity, which partly differed between women and men. The Akaike information criterion (AIC) indicated the selection of a model including sex, SLEs, SEEKING and SADNESS for the prediction of age at depression onset. SLC6A4 methylation was not related to depression severity, age at depression onset or SLEs in the entire group, but positively related to depression severity in women.
Taken together, we provide further evidence that age at depression onset is associated with SLEs, personality and depression severity. However, we found no associations between age at onset and SLC6A4 methylation. The joint investigation of variables originating in biology, psychology and psychiatry could make an important contribution to understanding the development of depressive disorders by elucidating potential subtypes of depression.
与晚年发病的抑郁症相比，早期发病的抑郁症与更高的慢性和残疾程度、更多的生活应激事件（SLEs）、描述为主要情绪悲伤（SADNESS）的更高的负性情绪以及更严重的抑郁症状有关。此外，5-羟色胺转运体基因（SLC6A4）的甲基化与 SLEs 和抑郁症状有关。
我们在一个由 146 名住院的重度抑郁症患者组成的样本中，研究了 SLEs、外周血中的 SLC6A4 甲基化、主要情绪悲伤（SADNESS）和寻求（通过情感神经科学人格量表测量）以及抑郁症状严重程度与抑郁发病年龄的关系。
与男性相比，患有抑郁症的女性表现出更高的悲伤（t (91.05)=-3.17，p=0.028，d=-0.57）和更高的 SLC6A4 甲基化（t (88.79)=-2.95，p=0.02，d=-0.55）。SLEs、主要情绪和抑郁严重程度之间存在关联，这些关联在女性和男性之间部分不同。Akaike 信息准则（AIC）表明，选择包括性别、SLEs、寻求和悲伤的模型来预测抑郁发病年龄。在整个组中，SLC6A4 甲基化与抑郁严重程度、抑郁发病年龄或 SLEs 无关，但与女性的抑郁严重程度呈正相关。
综上所述，我们提供了进一步的证据，表明抑郁发病年龄与 SLEs、人格和抑郁严重程度有关。然而，我们没有发现发病年龄与 SLC6A4 甲基化之间的关联。从生物学、心理学和精神病学中起源的变量的联合研究，可以通过阐明潜在的抑郁亚型，为理解抑郁障碍的发展做出重要贡献。
