title: Recurrent brief depressive disorder reinvestigated: a community sample of adolescents and young adults.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  This article presents prospective lower bound estimations of findings on prevalence, incidence, clinical correlates, severity markers, co-morbidity and course stability of threshold and subthreshold recurrent brief depressive disorder (RBD) and other mood disorders in a community sample of 3021 adolescents.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data were collected at baseline (age 14-17) and at two follow-up interviews within an observation period of 42 months. Diagnostic assessment was based on the Munich Composite International Diagnostic Interview (M-CIDI).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Our data suggest that RBD is a prevalent (2.6%) clinical condition among depressive disorders (21.3%) being at least as prevalent as dysthymia (2.3%) in young adults over lifetime. Furthermore, RBD is associated with significant clinical impairment sharing many features with major depressive disorder (MDD). Suicide attempts were reported in 7.8% of RBD patients, which was similar to MDD (11.9%). However, other features, like gender distribution or co-morbidity patterns, differ essentially from MDD. Furthermore, the lifetime co-occurrence of MDD and RBD or combined depression represents a severe psychiatric condition.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study provides further independent support for RBD as a clinically significant syndrome that could not be significantly explained as a prodrome or residual of major affective disorders.
authors.affiliation: Department of General Psychiatry, University of Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Pezawas
authors.forename: H U
authors.initials: HU
authors.lastname: Wittchen
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Pfister
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Angst
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lieb
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kasper
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology; D003156:Community Mental Health Services; D015897:Comorbidity; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012008:Recurrence; D013997:Time Factors