Key result
Cluster analysis identifies 6 distinct depressed patient profiles that would benefit from antidepressant therapy.
Why the study?
DEPRES II provided an opportunity to identify distinct depressed patient types in the community and their treatment needs across Europe.
Cross-Sectional
Yes
The DEPRES II survey identified six distinct profiles of depressed patients in the community, suggesting tailored approaches to treatment may be beneficial.
May support subtype-tailored antidepressant strategies in community depression; hypothesis-generating and requires prospective validation before practice change.
DEPRES II (Depression Research in European Society II), the first in-depth, pan-European survey of depression in the community, provided an opportunity to identify depressed patient types and their treatment needs. Cluster analysis applied to data generated from DEPRES II interviews revealed six depressed patient types with clearly differentiated profiles. The patient type with moderately impaired depression has episodic depression and minimal disability. By contrast, severe depression associated with anxiety presents with chronic symptoms, including anxiety and panic, and causes considerable disruption to normal life and employment. Depression associated with chronic physical problems and depression associated with social problems are characterized by chronic physical illness and relationship or financial difficulties, respectively, and sufferers are pessimistic about recovery. Depression associated with sleep problems is associated with symptoms of tiredness and broken or inadequate sleep, and is commonly caused by stress. Tiredness is also a principal symptom of depression associated with tiredness or fatigue, but sufferers' ability to sleep is unaffected. All patient types would benefit from antidepressant therapy. The depressed patient types identified from the DEPRES II data make intuitive sense, but now need to be tested for face validity in the primary care setting.
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Tylee et al. (1999) conducted a cross-sectional in Depression. Depression subtypes was evaluated on Identification of depressed patient types. Cluster analysis of the DEPRES II survey identified six distinct depressed patient types in the community with differentiated profiles, all of which would benefit from antidepressant therapy.
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