title: The relationship between neuroticism, major depressive disorder and comorbid disorders in Chinese women.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The personality trait of neuroticism is a risk factor for major depressive disorder (MDD), but this relationship has not been demonstrated in clinical samples from Asia.
  
  
  METHODS
  We examined a large-scale clinical study of Chinese Han women with recurrent major depression and community-acquired controls.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Elevated levels of neuroticism increased the risk for lifetime MDD (with an odds ratio of 1.37 per SD), contributed to the comorbidity of MDD with anxiety disorders, and predicted the onset and severity of MDD. Our findings largely replicate those obtained in clinical populations in Europe and US but differ in two ways: we did not find a relationship between melancholia and neuroticism; we found lower mean scores for neuroticism (3.6 in our community control sample).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings do not apply to MDD in community-acquired samples and may be limited to Han Chinese women. It is not possible to determine whether the association between neuroticism and MDD reflects a causal relationship.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Neuroticism acts as a risk factor for MDD in Chinese women, as it does in the West and may particularly predispose to comorbidity with anxiety disorders. Cultural factors may have an important effect on its measurement.
authors.affiliation: ShengJing Hospital of China Medical University, No.36 Sanhao Street, Heping District, Shenyang, Liaoning, 110817, PR China.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xia
authors.forename: Qiang
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authors.lastname: He
authors.forename: Yihan
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authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Dong
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authors.lastname: Xie
authors.forename: Suoyu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Jing
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authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Yuan
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authors.lastname: Shen
authors.forename: Ning
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authors.forename: Chunfeng
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authors.forename: Jianhua
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authors.lastname: Shen
authors.forename: Yan
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authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Chengge
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authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: Youhui
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Jihong
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authors.lastname: Ding
authors.forename: Wenwu
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.forename: Qian
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authors.forename: Meiyue
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authors.lastname: Cao
authors.forename: Tiebang
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authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Jinbei
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Huijun
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Duan
authors.forename: Cheng
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bao
authors.forename: Ping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Cong
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Yanfang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.forename: Fengzhi
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Guixing
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.forename: Yutang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.forename: Yunchun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Changyin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Haiyan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Yiping
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Shenxun
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.forename: Kenneth S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Kendler
authors.forename: Jonathan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Flint
authors.forename: Xumei
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D017714:Community-Acquired Infections; D015897:Comorbidity; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009497:Neurotic Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology; D010551:Personality; D012307:Risk Factors