Table 1.

Demographic and clinical characteristics of the subjects.

	MDD patients baseline (n = 20)	Healthy controls baseline (n = 20)	MDD patients week 8 (n = 20)	Healthy controls week 8 (n = 20)	p
Male/Female	9/11	9/11	9/11	9/11	—
Age (years)	34.6 ± 12.2	33.3 ± 10.3	34.6 ± 12.2	33.3 ± 10.3	0.717a
Education (years)	12.9 ± 2.1	13.7 ± 3.1	12.9 ± 2.1	13.7 ± 3.1	0.348a
Illness duration (months)	5.4 ± 6.3	—	7.4 ± 6.3	—	—
Total HRSD score	27.9 ± 4.0	0.9 ± 0.8	7.1 ± 4.5	0.9 ± 0.7	<0.001b/0.84c
Average dose of escitalopram (mg)			18.5 ± 2.9

Abbreviation: MDD, major depressive disorder; HRSD, Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression.

^aIndicate the P values for the comparisons between the MDD patients at baseline and the healthy controls at baseline.

^bIndicate the P values for the comparisons between the MDD patients at baseline and the patients after 8 weeks of treatment.

^cIndicate the P values for the comparisons between the healthy controls at baseline and the healthy controls after 8 weeks.