Table 1.
Demographics and clinical variables for each group.
| YOUNG (n = 20) | YOUNG-D (n = 16) | OLD (n = 17) | OLD-D (n = 19) | Comparisons | T, (95% CI) | p | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age M ± SD (range) | 27.5 ± 6.6 (19–39) | 27.9 ± 6.9 (18–40) | 67.5 ± 4.0 (63–80) | 68.0 ± 4.3 (62–76) | YOUNG vs. YOUNG-D | t(34) = 0.19, (−4.14, 5.02) | 0.847 |
| OLD vs. OLD-D | t(34) = 0.34, (−2.37, 3.31) | 0.738 | |||||
| Education (low/medium/high) | 0/6/14 | 0/8/8 | 3/7/7 | 2/12/4* | YOUNG vs. YOUNG-D | Na. | 0.187 |
| OLD vs. OLD-D | Na. | 0.340 | |||||
| Younger vs. Older | Na. | 0.008 | |||||
| dep vs. non-dep | Na. | 0.150 | |||||
| Diagnosis (within 1 year/over 1 year) | Na. | 8/4 | Na. | 2/9 | YOUNG-D vs. OLD-D | Na. | 0.036 |
| Depression severity (mild/moderate/severe) | Na. | 0/7/1 | Na. | 1/6/1 | YOUNG-D vs. OLD-D | Na. | 1.000 |
| Depression onset (childhood/adulthood) | Na. | 8/4* | Na. | 3/14* | YOUNG-D vs. OLD-D | Na. | 0.008 |
| Episodes (one/multiple) | Na. | 6/10 | Na. | 3/15* | YOUNG-D vs. OLD-D | Na. | 0.250 |
| Medication (Non-med/med) | Na. | 7/9 | Na. | 16/3 | YOUNG-D vs. OLD-D | Na. | 0.030 |
| BDI-II M ± SD (range) | 2.4 ± 1.9 (0–5)* | 27.9 ± 7.4 (19–43) | 3.5 ± 2.8 (0–9) | 23.5 ± 5.7 (14–34) | YOUNG vs. OLD | t(35) = 1.4, (−2.63, 0.49) | 0.171 |
| YOUNG-D vs. OLD-D | t(33) = 2.0, (−0.10, 8.91) | 0.055 | |||||
| DASS-A M ± SD (range) | 0.8 ± 0.8 (0–2) | 10.5 ± 8.3 (1–38) | 2.1 ± 1.2 (0–4) | 6.2 ± 4.3 (1–17)* | YOUNG vs. OLD | t(35) = 4.0, (−1.99, −0.65) | <0.001 |
| YOUNG-D vs. OLD-D | t(32) = 1.9, (−0.29, 8.84) | 0.065 | |||||
| SCL-90 som M ± SD (range) | 2.6 ± 2.2 (0–8) | 12.4 ± 9.7 (2–32) | 4.2 ± 3.2 (0–10) | 10.2 ± 7.6 (0–25)* | YOUNG vs. OLD | t(35) = 2.0, (−3.47, 0.12) | 0.066 |
| YOUNG-D vs. OLD-D | t(32) = 0.8, (−3.72, 8.37) | 0.439 | |||||
| BDI somatic (range) | Na. | 8.5 ± 2.9 (4–13) | Na. | 7.9 ± 2.4 (2–13) | YOUNG-D vs. OLD-D | t(33) = 0.68, (−1.22, 2.43) | 0.504 |
| MMSE (range) | Na. | Na. | 28.8 ± 1.4 (27–30) | 29.1 ± 1.0 (25–30)* | OLD vs. OLD-D | t(32) = 0.66, (−1.16, 0.59) | 0.512 |
Abbreviations: DASS-A, Depression, anxiety and stress subscale (Lovibond and Lovibond, 1995); SCL-90 som, somatic subscale of the symptom checklist (Derogatis et al., 1973); MMSE, Mini-Mental State Examination (Folstein et al., 1975); BDI somatic, sum of scores on BDI-II items related to somatic symptoms (Buckley et al., 2001); diagnosis, number of participants with a self-reported diagnosis of a major depressive disorder within 1 year or over a year ago; severity, number of participants with a diagnosis of mild, moderate or severe depression (note that four participants in YOUNG-D and three in OLD-D could not specify their depression diagnoses); onset, number of participants who reported first onset of depressive symptoms in childhood (before the age of 18) or in adulthood; non-med/med, participants currently taking (med) and not taking (non-med) antidepressant medication; M, mean; SD, standard deviation; *data missing for participants (data about depression onset were missing for four participants in YOUNG-D and two participants in OLD-D; data about education, depressive episodes, DASS, SCL-90, and MMSE were missing for one participant in OLD-D). Note that the group comparisons with categorical variables are based on a two-tailed Fisher’s exact test; therefore, no “t-values” are reported for them. YOUNG, younger adult group; YOUNG-D, younger adult depression group; OLD, older adult group; OLD-D, older adult depression group; Younger, non-depressed and depressed younger adult groups; Older, non-depressed and depressed older adult groups; dep, depressed younger and older adults; non-dep, non-depressed younger and older adults; 95% CI, 95% confidence interval; p, p-value.