We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
To save content items to your account,
please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies.
If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account.
Find out more about saving content to .
To save content items to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org
is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings
on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part
of your Kindle email address below.
Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations.
‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi.
‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
The authors used results from a 20-year, high-intensity follow-up to measure the influence of ageing, and of age at onset, on the long-term persistence of symptoms in major depressive disorder (MDD).
Method
Subjects who completed a 20-year series of semi-annual and then annual assessments with a stable diagnosis of MDD or schizo-affective disorder other than mainly schizophrenic (n=220) were divided according to their ages at intake into youngest (18–29 years), middle (30–44 years) and oldest (>45 years) groups. Depressive morbidity was quantified as the proportion of weeks spent in major depressive or schizo-affective episodes. General linear models then tested for effects of time and time×group interactions on these measures. Regression analyses compared the influence of age of onset and of current age.
Results
Analyses revealed no significant time or group×time effects on the proportions of weeks in major depressive episodes in any of the three age groups. Earlier ages of onset were associated with greater symptom persistence, particularly in the youngest group. The proportions of weeks ill showed intra-individual stability over time that was most evident in the oldest group.
Conclusions
These results indicate that the persistence of depressive symptoms in MDD does not change as individuals move from their third to their fifth decade, from their fourth to their sixth decade, or from their sixth to their eighth decade. An early age of onset, rather than youth per se, is associated with greater morbidity over two decades.
Recommend this
Email your librarian or administrator to recommend adding this to your organisation's collection.