Demographic and clinical characteristics of patients with major depressive disorder and healthy controls with and without childhood maltreatment
| Group; mean (SD) [range]* | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Characteristic | MDD without maltreatment, n = 17 | MDD with maltreatment, n = 20 | Control without maltreatment, n = 36 | Control with maltreatment, n = 10 | F79* | p value |
| Age, yr | 40.6 (10.4) [23–59] | 39.9 (9.7) [26–64] | 34.2 (10.8) [18–65] | 45.3 (15.8) [20–63] | 3.3§ | 0.023 |
| Sex, F:M | 12:5 | 9:11 | 24:12 | 4:6 | χ2 = 4.9 | 0.18 |
| Weight, kg | 76.1 (13.1) | 75.3 (18.4) | 66.9 (14.3) | 78.5 (16.1) | 2.6 | 0.06 |
| Height, cm | 171.6 (8.1) | 172.6 (8.2) | 171.1 (9.6) | 173.9 (12.0) | 0.29 | 0.83 |
| Alcohol consumed | 4.1 (6.1) | 3.2 (4.0) | 4.8 (5.1) | 3.7 (5.3) | 0.4 | 0.74 |
| HDRS score | 27.9 (6.6) | 29.3 (5.7) | 2.0 (3.4) | 2.0 (1.9) | 206.8¶ | < 0.001 |
| BDI score | 32.5 (10.7) | 35.7 (12.0) | 2.8 (4.8) | 2.3 (2.2) | 99.6¶ | < 0.001 |
| MADRS score | 29.8 (6.3) | 30.6 (6.9) | 2.1 (3.9) | 2.53 (3.80) | 205.6¶ | < 0.001 |
| Age of onset | 26.3 (10.9) | 22.0 (12.1) | — | — | 1.3 | 0.27 |
| Cumulative illness duration | 7.6 (8.5) | 11.4 (11.3) | — | — | 1.3 | 0.26 |
| Days treated | 2089 (2832) | 2846 (3864) | — | — | 0.42 | 0.52 |
| Days untreated | 1723 (2784) | 1401 (2473) | — | — | 0.14 | 0.72 |
| CTQ total score† | 31.5 (4.5) | 62.6 (19.5) | 29.3 (3.8) | 38.3 (7.5) | 47.5 | < 0.001 |
| Emotional neglect† | 8.3 (3.1) | 14.8 (5.0) | 6.6 (1.9) | 9.5 (4.6) | 24.7 | < 0.001 |
| Emotional abuse‡ | 6.3 (2.0) | 13.5 (5.4) | 6.4 (1.7) | 6.9 (2.7) | 26.2 | < 0.001 |
| Physical neglect† | 6.7 (1.7) | 10.4 (4.2) | 5.8 (1.2) | 8.1 (1.9) | 16.5 | < 0.001 |
| Physical abuse‡ | 5.2 (5.3) | 11.8 (5.9) | 5.4 (1.1) | 6.8 (2.4) | 21.0 | < 0.001 |
| Sexual abuse‡ | 5.1 (0.3) | 12.1 (7.5) | 5.1 (0.4) | 7.0 (2.3) | 16.7 | < 0.001 |
BDI = Beck Depression Inventory; CTQ = childhood trauma questionnaire; HDRS = Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression; MADRS = Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale; MDD = major depressive disorder; SD = standard deviation.
↵* Unless indicated otherwise.
↵† Patients with MDD with childhood maltreatment had higher scores than participants in the 3 other groups. Controls with childhood maltreatment had higher scores in physical and emotional neglect and higher total scores than controls without childhood maltreatment.
↵‡ Patients with MDD with childhood maltreatment had higher CTQ scores then controls with childhood maltreatment and participants without childhood maltreatment (per definition).
↵§ Patients with MDD without childhood maltreatment were older than controls without childhood maltreatment (t = 2.1, p = 0.040); patients with MDD with childhood maltreatment showed a trend toward being older than controls without childhood maltreatment (t = 2.0, p = 0.06). Controls without childhood maltreatment were younger than controls with childhood maltreatment (t = 2.6, p = 0.013).
↵¶ Patients with MDD had higher scores than controls, but there were no significant differences between participants with childhood maltreatment and those without childhood maltreatment.