Table 1.
Baseline demographic and clinical characteristics
| Characteristics | N = 624 |
|---|---|
| Age, years, mean (SD) |
47.6 (13.8) |
| Gender, n (%) |
|
| Women |
408 (65.4) |
| Ethnicity, n (%) |
|
| Caucasian |
611 (97.9) |
| Marital status, n (%) |
|
| Married |
379 (60.7) |
| Single |
132 (21.1) |
| Other1 |
113 (18.1) |
| Education, n (%) |
|
| Illiterate |
12 (1.9) |
| Basic school education |
252 (40.4) |
| High school/higher education |
316 (50.6) |
| Employment status, n (%) |
|
| Active |
264 (42.3) |
| Not working (unemployed or sick leave) |
148 (23.7) |
| Other2 |
212 (34.0) |
| Patients with medical comorbidity, n (%) |
339 (54.3) |
| Family psychiatric history, n (%) |
221 (35.4) |
| Number of previous episodes, mean (SD) |
2.6 (2.5) |
| Patients with 1st episode, n (%) |
280 (44.9) |
| Age at first episode of depression, mean (SD) |
40.5 (14.0) |
| Current depressive episode: |
|
| Length, mean weeks (SD) |
13.9 (23.5) |
| Chronicity ≥2 years, n (%) |
38 (6.1) |
| HAMD-17 total score, mean (SD) |
24.6 (5.7) |
| Residual symptoms, mean (SD) |
|
| Core mood3 |
8.7 (2.3) |
| Insomnia4 |
3.9 (1.4) |
| Anxiety5 |
6.2 (2.2) |
| Somatic6 |
1.1 (0.6) |
| VAS-overall pain, total score (mean) |
41.4 (28.2) |
| Monotherapy, n (%) |
550 (88.1) |
| SSRI |
145 (26.4) |
| SNRI |
387 (70.3) |
| Tricyclic antidepressants |
6 (1.1) |
| Others |
12 (2.2) |
| Combination of antidepressants, n (%) | 74 (11.9) |
MDD = Major depressive disorder; SSRI = Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor; SNRI = Serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor; SD = Standard deviation; VAS = Visual Analog Scale; 1Widowed, separated, divorced and other; 2Student, housekeeping, retired, disabled worker; 3depressed mood [Item 1], guilt [Item 2], suicide [Item 3], and anergia/anhedonia [Item 7] of the HAMD-17; 4early [Item 4], middle [Item 5], and late insomnia [Item 6] of the HAMD-17; 5agitation [Item 9], psychic anxiety [Item 10], somatic anxiety [Item 11], and hypochondriasis [Item 15] of the HAMD-17; 6item 13 of the HAMD-17.