Table 2.
Characteristics of the minor depression study sample, and associations with time to death
| Minor depressed | No Wish-to-Die | Wish-to-Die | Test of equality across groups (p-value and degress of freedom)1 | Association with time to death (hazard ratio and 95% CI)2 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (n =200) | (n =178) | (n =22) | |||
| Sociodemographic characteristics | |||||
| Age, mean in years (s.d.) | 72 (8.1) | 71 (8.1) | 74 (7.8) | 0.218 (df=180) | 1.07 (1.03, 1.12) |
| Education, mean in years (s.d.) | 13 (3.3) | 13 (3.3) | 14 (3.6) | 0.181 (df=179) | 0.98 (0.91, 1.07) |
| Women, n (%) | 143 (71) | 128 (72) | 15 (68) | 0.717 (df=181) | 0.47 (0.25, 0.89) |
| Ethnic minority, n (%) | 55 (28) | 48 (27) | 7 (32) | 0.656 (df=180) | 1.03 (0.53, 1.99) |
| Married, n (%) | 79 (40) | 70 (40) | 9 (41) | 0.560 (df=179) | 0.99 (0.57, 1.72) |
| Smoking | |||||
| Current smoker at baseline, n (%) | 34 (17) | 27 (16) | 7 (33) | 0.053 (df=175) | 1.68 (0.83, 3.43) |
| Medical and functional status | |||||
| Medical conditions, mean (s.d.) | 2.4 (2.3) | 2.4 (2.3) | 2.2 (2.0) | 0.723 (df=180) | 1.28 (1.16, 1.41) |
| Disabilities, mean (s.d.) | 2.3 (1.9) | 2.3 (1.8) | 2.4 (2.3) | 0.831 (df=159) | 1.45 (1.27, 1.66) |
| Baseline psychiatric and cognitive status | |||||
| HDRS, mean (s.d.) | 13 (3.5) | 13 (3.4) | 14 (4.2) | 0.727 (df=180) | 1.02 (0.93, 1.12) |
| MMSE, mean (s.d.) | 28 (2.1) | 28 (2.1) | 28 (2.2) | 0.712 (df=180) | 0.86 (0.75, 0.98) |
| Past history of MDD, n (%) | 35 (17) | 27 (15) | 8 (36) | 0.019 (df=181) | 0.64 (0.35, 1.17) |
| Anxiety disorder, n (%) | 22 (11) | 20 (11) | 2(9) | 0.764 (df=181) | 0.43 (0.11, 1.66) |
| Hopelessness, mean (s.d.) | 5.9 (3.7) | 5.8 (3.4) | 7.4 (4.8) | 0.112 (df=159) | 1.05 (1.00, 1.10) |
| Treatment Assignment | |||||
| Intervention practice, n (%) | 104 (52) | 90 (51) | 14 (64) | 0.035 (df=181) | 1.00 (0.51, 1.95) |
CI, confidence interval; HDRS, Hamilton Depression Rating Scale without suicidal ideation item; MMSE, Mini-Mental State Examination; s.d., standard deviation. Unless noted otherwise, entries represent numbers with percents based on the total number in the corresponding column in parentheses;
1
t-test from bivariate logistic regression model with random effects;
2
Wald Chi-square (df=1) 95% confidence intervals based on bivariate Cox proportional hazards model.