title: A comparison of melancholic and nonmelancholic recurrent major depression in Han Chinese women.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Although the diagnosis of melancholia has had a long history, the validity of the current DSM-IV definition remains contentious. We report here the first detailed comparison of melancholic and nonmelancholic major depression (MD) in a Chinese population examining in particular whether these two forms of MD differ quantitatively or qualitatively.
  
  
  METHODS
  DSM-IV criteria for melancholia were applied to 1,970 Han Chinese women with recurrent MD recruited from 53 provincial mental health centers and psychiatric departments of general medical hospitals in 41 cities. Statistical analyses, utilizing Student's t-tests and Pearson's χ(2) , were calculated using SPSS 13.0.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Melancholic patients with MD were distinguished from nonmelancholic by being older, having a later age at onset, more episodes of illness and meeting more A criteria. They also had higher levels of neuroticism and rates of lifetime generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and social and agoraphobia. They had significantly lower rates of childhood sexual abuse but did not differ on other stressful life events or rates of MD in their families.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Consistent with most prior findings in European and US populations, we find that melancholia is a more clinically severe syndrome than nonmelancholic depression with higher rates of comorbidity. The evidence that it is a more "biological" or qualitatively distinct syndrome, however, is mixed.
authors: No.1 Hospital of Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, Shanxi, People's Republic of China.
authors: Ning
authors: N
authors: Sun
authors: Yihan
authors: Y
authors: Li
authors: Yiyun
authors: Y
authors: Cai
authors: Jing
authors: J
authors: Chen
authors: Yuan
authors: Y
authors: Shen
authors: Jing
authors: J
authors: Sun
authors: Zheng
authors: Z
authors: Zhang
authors: Jiulong
authors: J
authors: Zhang
authors: Lina
authors: L
authors: Wang
authors: Liyang
authors: L
authors: Guo
authors: Lei
authors: L
authors: Yang
authors: Li
authors: L
authors: Qiang
authors: Yanchun
authors: Y
authors: Yang
authors: Gang
authors: G
authors: Wang
authors: Bo
authors: B
authors: Du
authors: Jing
authors: J
authors: Xia
authors: Han
authors: H
authors: Rong
authors: Zhaoyu
authors: Z
authors: Gan
authors: Bin
authors: B
authors: Hu
authors: Jiyang
authors: J
authors: Pan
authors: Chang
authors: C
authors: Li
authors: Shufan
authors: S
authors: Sun
authors: Wei
authors: W
authors: Han
authors: Xue
authors: X
authors: Xiao
authors: Lei
authors: L
authors: Dai
authors: Guixing
authors: G
authors: Jin
authors: Yutang
authors: Y
authors: Zhang
authors: Lixin
authors: L
authors: Sun
authors: Yunchun
authors: Y
authors: Chen
authors: Haiying
authors: H
authors: Zhao
authors: Yamei
authors: Y
authors: Dang
authors: Shenxun
authors: S
authors: Shi
authors: Kenneth S
authors: KS
authors: Kendler
authors: Jonathan
authors: J
authors: Flint
authors: Kerang
authors: K
authors: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D017668:Age of Onset; D002648:Child; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D012008:Recurrence; D013577:Syndrome