Clinical and Demographic Factors Associated With DSM-IV Melancholic Depression

Background. The purpose of this paper is to use demographic and clinical data from a large diverse group of outpatients diagnosed with non-psychotic major depression to investigate the validity of the DSM-IV concept of melancholic depression.Methods. Baseline clinical and demographic data were collected on 1500 outpatients (1456 of whom melancholia could be determined) with non-psychotic major depressive disorder (MDD) participating in the Sequenced Treatment Alternatives to Relieve Depression (STAR*D) study. Depressive symptom severity was assessed by clinical telephone interview using the 17-item Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HRS-D17) and the 30-item Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology (IDS-C30). The types and degrees of concurrent psychiatric symptoms were measured using a self report, the Psychiatric Diagnostic Screening Questionnaire (PDSQ), by recording the number of items relevant to each diagnostic category endorsed by study participants.Results. Adjusting for severity of depression (as...