title: Definitions of recovery and outcomes of major depression: results from a 10-year follow-up.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Consensus operational definitions for symptomatic remission and recovery of a major depressive episode have been proposed but only irregularly followed.
  
  
  METHODS
  We examined the predictive validity of different definitions of recovery in a multi-center 10-year follow-up study of an inception cohort of untreated unipolar major depressive episodes (n = 95). Time to recovery and time to recurrence after recovery were estimated by Kaplan-Meier survival analyses for alternative definitions requiring 2, 4, 6 or 12 months of remission to declare recovery.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The median time to recovery was 3.0, 4.0, 4.0 and 12.0 months respectively. The index episode lasted longer than 24 months in 9.4%, 9.2%, 12.6% and 24.5%. The median time to subthreshold recurrence was 16.0, 32.0, 42.0 and 74.0 months.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Either 4- or 6-month duration of remission defined a change point before which the episode was continuous and after which the recurrence was reasonably unlikely.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Cognitive-Behavioral Medicine, Nagoya City University Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Nagoya, Japan. furukawa@med.nagoya-cu.ac.jp
authors.forename: T A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Furukawa
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fujita
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Harai
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Yoshimura
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kitamura
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Takahashi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003289:Convalescence; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000628:therapy*; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011446:Prospective Studies; D016896:Treatment Outcome