title: Prevalence, correlates, and course of minor depression and major depression in the National Comorbidity Survey.
abstract: Data from the National Comorbidity Survey are used to study the lifetime prevalences, correlates, course and impairments associated with minor depression (mD), major depression 5-6 symptoms (MD 5-6), and major depression with seven or more symptoms (MD 7-9) in an effort to determine whether mD is on a continuum with MD. There is a monotonic increase in average number of episodes, average length of longest episode, impairment, comorbidity, and parental history of psychiatric disorders as we go from mD to Md 5-6 to MD 7-9. In most of these cases, though, the differences between mD and MD 5-6 are no longer than the differences between MD 5-6 and MD 7-9, arguing for continuity between mD and MD. Coupled with the finding from earlier studies that subclinical depression is a significant risk factor for major depression, these results argue that minor depression is a variant of depressive disorder that should be considered seriously both as a target for preventive intervention and for treatment. The paper closes with suggestions regarding the analysis of mD subtypes in future longitudinal studies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Care Policy, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA.
authors.forename: R C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Kessler
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: D G
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: Blazer
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Swartz
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017668:Age of Onset; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology; D016241:Child of Impaired Parents / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002908:Chronic Disease; D015988:Cohort Effect; D015897:Comorbidity; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D017281:Cost of Illness; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D016208:Databases, Factual; D003863:Depression / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005192:Family Health; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016017:Odds Ratio; D015995:Prevalence; D012008:Recurrence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012494:Sampling Studies; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology; D016019:Survival Analysis; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology