Appetite and weight change in patients presenting with depressive illness.

Appetite and weight in 193 moderately depressed outpatients who satisfied Feighner's criteria for a primary depressive episode were found to be strongly associated with previous appetite and weight history. There was no overall association between weight change and severity of depression, nor with the classical features of endogenous depression, such as early morning waking and morning worsening of mood. Appetite change in either direction was, however, associated with a more severe degree of depression on the Hamilton and Beck scales. Normal appetite changes in response to stress occur in an exaggerated way in this depressive illness.