Subtypes of major depression: latent class analysis in depressed Han Chinese women

• Published in: Psychological medicine Vol. 44; no. 15; p. 3275
• Main Authors: Li, Y, Aggen, S, Shi, S, Gao, J, Tao, M, Zhang, K, Wang, X, Gao, C, Yang, L, Liu, Y, Li, K, Shi, J, Wang, G, Liu, L, Zhang, J, Du, B, Jiang, G, Shen, J, Zhang, Z, Liang, W, Sun, J, Hu, J, Liu, T, Miao, G, Meng, H, Hu, C, Huang, G, Li, G, Ha, B, Deng, H, Mei, Q, Zhong, H, Gao, S, Sang, H, Zhang, Y, Fang, X, Yu, F, Yang, D, Chen, Y, Hong, X, Wu, W, Chen, G, Cai, M, Song, Y, Pan, J, Dong, J, Pan, R, Zhang, W, Shen, Z, Liu, Z, Gu, D, Liu, X, Zhang, Q, Flint, J, Kendler, K S
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England 01-11-2014
• Subjects: Adult; Depressive Disorder - classification; Depressive Disorder, Major - classification; Female; Humans; Severity of Illness Index; Suicidal Ideation
• ISSN: 1469-8978
• DOI: 10.1017/S0033291714000749

Despite substantial research, uncertainty remains about the clinical and etiological heterogeneity of major depression (MD). Can meaningful and valid subtypes be identified and would they be stable cross-culturally?
Symptoms at their lifetime worst depressive episode were assessed at structured psychiatric interview in 6008 women of Han Chinese descent, age ⩾ 30 years, with recurrent DSM-IV MD. Latent class analysis (LCA) was performed in Mplus. RESULTS; Using the nine DSM-IV MD symptomatic A criteria, the 14 disaggregated DSM-IV criteria and all independently assessed depressive symptoms (n = 27), the best LCA model identified respectively three, four and six classes. A severe and non-suicidal class was seen in all solutions, as was a mild/moderate subtype. An atypical class emerged once bidirectional neurovegetative symptoms were included. The non-suicidal class demonstrated low levels of worthlessness/guilt and hopelessness. Patterns of co-morbidity, family history, personality, environmental precipitants, recurrence and body mass index (BMI) differed meaningfully across subtypes, with the atypical class standing out as particularly distinct.
MD is a clinically complex syndrome with several detectable subtypes with distinct clinical and demographic correlates. Three subtypes were most consistently identified in our analyses: severe, atypical and non-suicidal. Severe and atypical MD have been identified in multiple prior studies in samples of European ethnicity. Our non-suicidal subtype, with low levels of guilt and hopelessness, may represent a pathoplastic variant reflecting Chinese cultural influences.