Onset of depressive episodes is faster in patients with bipolar versus unipolar depressive disorder: evidence from a retrospective comparative study.
J Clin Psychiatry
; 69(7): 1075-80, 2008 Jul.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-18384245
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE:
Depressive episodes can have a very fast onset (< 1 hour) or start very slowly (> 1 month). This interesting aspect, pointing to different neurophysiological pathomechanisms, has not been systematically evaluated so far. The aim of this study was to describe speed of onset of depressive episodes in a consecutive sample of patients with at least 1 depressive episode and to investigate potential differences between patients with major depression versus bipolar affective disorders concerning this variable.METHOD:
We examined 158 consecutive adult patients with major depression (N = 108) and bipolar disorder (N = 50) diagnosed according to criteria of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases, 10th revision, by applying the structured Onset-of-Depression Inventory. Patients with acute critical life events preceding the onset were excluded from final analyses. Data were collected between December 2001 and January 2007.RESULTS:
There was a significant positive association between speed of onset of the present depressive episode and that of the preceding depressive episode (rho = 0.66, p < .001). Patients with bipolar disorder developed full-blown depressive episodes significantly faster than patients with major depression (p < .001) Whereas depressive episodes began within 1 week in 58% of patients with bipolar disorder, this was the case in only 7.4% of patients with major depression.CONCLUSION:
Intraindividually, the speed of onset of depression is similar across different episodes. In the absence of acute critical life events, fast onset of depressive episodes (within 1 week) is common in bipolar disorder but rare in major depression. This aspect might be useful to identify depressive episodes occurring within a bipolar affective illness and might characterize a subgroup of patients with a distinct neurobiology.
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Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Bipolar Disorder
/
Depressive Disorder
Type of study:
Diagnostic_studies
/
Incidence_studies
/
Observational_studies
/
Prevalence_studies
/
Prognostic_studies
/
Qualitative_research
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limits:
Adult
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Language:
En
Journal:
J Clin Psychiatry
Year:
2008
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Germany