title: Family history of major depression and residual symptoms in responder and non-responder depressed patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Little is known about the extent to which a family history of major depression (MD) affects residual depressive symptoms in responder and non-responder patients suffering from MD.
  
  
  METHODS
  Nine hundred eighty-six patients with MD were recruited within the context of a large multicenter project. Information about the family history of MD, as well as about total depressive symptoms and specific depressive clusters, was collected and analyzed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  No significant difference was observed in overall depressive symptoms between patients with and those without a family history of MD. However, non-responder patients with a family history of MD showed significantly higher scores in core symptoms as compared with responder patients without a family history of MD.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Non-responder MD patients with a positive family history of MD could represent a slightly different sub-group of MD patients with more consistent core depressive symptoms as compared with responder patients without a family history of MD. However, taking into account the retrospective assessment of data, the use of positive or negative family history as a dichotomous indicator of familial loading and the cross-sectional design of the present study, further research is needed to draw more definitive conclusions.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Psychiatry, University of Bologna, Viale Carlo Pepoli 5, 40123 Bologna, Italy. Electronic address: alessandro.serretti@unibo.it.
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Serretti
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Chiesa
authors.forename: Raffaella
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Calati
authors.forename: Othman
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Sentissi
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Akimova
authors.forename: Siegfried
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kasper
authors.forename: Joseph
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zohar
authors.forename: Diana
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: De Ronchi
authors.forename: Julien
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mendlewicz
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Amital
authors.forename: Stuart
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Montgomery
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Souery
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000928:Antidepressive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003863:Depression / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000235:genetics*; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000235:genetics*; D061218:Depressive Disorder, Treatment-Resistant / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000235:genetics*; D005190:Family; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017211:Treatment Failure
chemical_list: D000928:Antidepressive Agents