Influyen el sexo y la ansiedad en el resultado del tratamiento de la Depresión

We managed a follow-up study to reveal the effect of gender and coexisting anxiety on treatment outcome in depression. The state of our 150 consecutive inpatients with unipolar major depression were followed up. We used Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, Zung Self Rating Depression Scale and Spielberger Stait-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Ninety-three patients (62%) completed the trial, the mean follow-up duration was 2.95 years. On admission, we found gender difference neither in the severity of depression nor in coexisting anxiety. Females presented more anxiety traits and responded better to antidepressive medication till week six (65% vs. 50% response rate). The severity of coexisting anxiety did not modify the response rate. Although depression decreased significantly in both genders, 36.6% of the total population (with a relative overrepresentation of males) were depressed at closer visit. In summary, female gender was associated with better outcome, while coexisting anxiety had no effect on therapy-response.