A comparison of inpatients with anxious depression to those with nonanxious depression

• Published in: Psychiatry research Vol. 220; no. 3; pp. 855 - 860
• Main Authors: Lin, Ching-Hua, Wang, Fu-Chiang, Lin, Shih-Chi, Chen, Cheng-Chung, Huang, Chun-Jen
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ireland Ltd 30.12.2014; Elsevier
• Subjects: Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Aged; Anxiety Disorders - diagnosis; Anxiety Disorders - ethnology; Anxiety Disorders - psychology; Anxious depression; Asian Continental Ancestry Group - ethnology; Asian Continental Ancestry Group - psychology; Biological and medical sciences; Cross-Sectional Studies; Daily functioning; Depression; Depressive Disorder, Major - diagnosis; Depressive Disorder, Major - ethnology; Depressive Disorder, Major - psychology; Female; Humans; Inpatients - psychology; Male; Medical sciences; Melancholic features; Middle Aged; Miscellaneous; Mood disorders; Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Quality of life; Quality of Life - psychology; Suicide; Treatment Outcome; Melancholic features; Daily functioning; Anxious depression; Suicide; Quality of life; Mood disorder; Melancholia; Anxiety disorder; Depression; Mixed anxiety-depression; Comparative study
• ISSN: 0165-1781; 1872-7123; 1872-7123
• DOI: 10.1016/j.psychres.2014.08.048

Anxiety symptoms are common for patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). Anxious depression has been considered MDD with high levels of anxiety symptoms. The objective of this study was to investigate the factors associated with anxious depression for Chinese inpatients with MDD. A total of 174 acutely ill patients were enrolled. Baseline demographic variables, suicide risk, depression severity, quality of life (QOL), and daily functional impairment were assessed. Those MDD patients with a 17-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD-17) anxiety/somatization factor score≥7 were defined as anxious depression. Logistic regression was employed to examine the factors associated with anxious depression. One hundred and forty-one (81.0%) of the subjects reported anxious depression. Patients with anxious depression were more likely to have melancholic features, to be older, to experience more severe depression, to be at greater risk of suicide, to have more pain, poorer quality of life, and more severe functional impairment. Anxious depression is common in inpatients with MDD. These findings suggest that anxious depression significantly differs from nonanxious depression on several clinically relevant variables. These data add to a growing body of evidence that anxious depression is a more complex presentation of depression. •Anxious depression is common in hospitalized depressed inpatients.•Clinicians should be more vigilant related to suicidality in anxious depression.•Anxious depression is a more complex presentation of depression.