Family history of mood disorder and characteristics of major depressive disorder : A STARD (sequenced treatment alternatives to relieve depression) study

• Published in: Journal of psychiatric research Vol. 41; no. 3-4; pp. 214 - 221
• Main Authors: NIERENBERG, Andrew A, TRIVEDI, Madhukar H, FAVA, Maurizio, BIGGS, Melanie M, SHORES-WILSON, Kathy, WISNIEWSKI, Stephen R, BALASUBRAMANI, G. K, RUSH, A. John
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier 01.04.2007
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Affective disorders; Age of Onset; Aged; Biological and medical sciences; Cohort Studies; Demography; Depression; Depressive Disorder, Major - epidemiology; Depressive Disorder, Major - physiopathology; Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; Family Health; Family histories; Female; Humans; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Mood disorders; Mood Disorders - diagnosis; Mood Disorders - epidemiology; Mood Disorders - genetics; Outpatients; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Severity of Illness Index; Sex Factors; Social environment; Mood disorder; Family story; Treatment; Family environment; Depression; Family; History; Major depressive disorder
• ISSN: 0022-3956; 1879-1379
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2006.02.005

Clinicians routinely ask patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) about their family history. It is unknown, however, if patients who report a positive family history differ from those who do not. This study compared the demographic and clinical features of a large cohort of treatment-seeking outpatients with non-psychotic MDD who reported that they did or did not have at least one first-degree relative who had either MDD or bipolar disorder. Subjects were recruited for the STAR( *)D multicenter trial. Differences in demographic and clinical features for patients with and without a family history of mood disorders were assessed after correcting for age, sex, race, and ethnicity. Patients with a family history of mood disorder (n=2265; 56.5%) were more frequently women and had an earlier age of onset of depression, as compared to those without such a history (n=1740; 43.5%). No meaningful differences were found in depressive symptoms, severity, recurrence, depressive subtype, or daily function. Women were twice as likely as men to report a positive family history of mood disorder, and a positive family history was associated with younger age of onset of MDD in the proband. Consistent with prior research, early age of onset appears to define a familial and, by extension, genetic subtype of major depressive disorder.