TABLE 1.
Demographic and clinical characteristics of patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) and healthy subjects (HS)
| MDD | HS | p | |
|---|---|---|---|
| (n = 33) | (n = 43) | ||
| Mean (SD) | Mean (SD) | ||
| Age (years) | 37.24 (12.33) | 36.47 (11.21) | .775 |
| Male/female | 18/15 | 31/12 | .113 |
| University entrance diploma/no university entrance diploma | 16/17 | 25/18 | .403 |
| Neurocognition | |||
| Verbal fluency test—animals (correct answers) | 21.85 (6.25) | 24.32 (6.16) | .098 |
| Verbal fluency test—p (correct answers) | 12.18 (4.04) | 12.22 (4.10) | .972 |
| Verbal fluency test—alternating words (correct answers) | 13.27 (4.23) | 16.08 (2.76) | .001 |
| Digit span (total) | 13.97 (4.21) | 14.93 (3.60) | .291 |
| Trail making test (TMT‐B–TMT‐A) | 45.18 (43.48) | 55.34 (50.52) | .709 |
| d2—total number of correct responses | 414.21 (95.68) | 464.31 (85.99) | .032 |
| Psychopathology | |||
| HAMD a | 13.17 (6.13) | – | – |
| Empathy (E scale) | 77.64 (12.91) | 76.10 (13.88) | .787 |
| BAG total | 3.07 (0.46) | 3.31 (0.58) | .057 |
| BAG I (perception) | 3.49 (0.72) | 3.66 (0.70) | .289 |
| BAG II (production) | 2.77 (0.77) | 2.96 (0.94) | .340 |
| BAG III (social production) | 3.65 (0.90) | 4.21 (0.62) | .002 |
| BAG IV (social perception) | 2.26 (0.87) | 2.40 (0.93) | .505 |
Note: d2: d2 test of sustained attention (Schmidt‐Atzert & Brickenkamp, 2017); BAG: brief self‐rating scale for the assessment of individual differences in gesture perception and production (Nagels, Kircher, Steines, Grosvald, & Straube, 2015); HAMD: Hamilton Depression Scale (Hamilton, 1960); Empathy: “questionnaire for the assessment of empathy” (E scale) (Leibetseder, Laireiter, Riepler, & Köller, 2001).
a
HAMD scores were only acquired in patients with MDD.