title: Intermediate-term outcome of psychiatric inpatients with major depression.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  A wide range of recovery rates has been reported during the 1st year of follow-up inpatients with depression, and there is a lack of consensus regarding which clinical and psychosocial variables are associated with prognosis. This study investigated the outcome of inpatients with a major depressive episode at 10-22 months (mean +/- SD = 14.0 +/- 3.4 months) of follow-up and the associated psychosocial and clinical variables.
  
  
  METHODS
  The demographic and clinical characteristics of 67 inpatients with a DSM-IV major depressive episode were assessed at admission, discharge and 1 year after the initial assessment. A logistic regression model was used to examine the predictive factors of depressive status at follow-up.
  
  
  RESULTS
  At the 1-year follow-up, 12 patients could not be located, one refused further interview and one had committed suicide 1 month after discharge. Eighty percent of patients had follow-up examinations. Out of 67 patients, 31 (47%) underwent a DSM-IV diagnosis (29 with major depression and two with minor depression) and 22 (33%) recovered. Low socioeconomic status (p = 0.05), long duration of illness before admission (p = 0.03) and number of previous hospitalizations (p = 0.04) were predictive factors for a depressive morbidity at 10-22 months.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  At follow-up, almost half of the discharged depressive patients were still depressed. Screening for predictive factors of chronic depressive morbidity facilitates better outcome by considering the heterogeneity of psychopathology that can lead to failure in the treatment plan.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, National Taiwan University Hospital and National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan. meichih@ha.mc.ntu.edu.tw
authors.forename: Mei-Chih
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Tseng
authors.forename: I-Chih
authors.initials: IC
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.forename: Yue-Joe
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Ming-Been
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013997:Time Factors