TY - JOUR
T1 - Effects of anxiety on the long-term course of depressive disorders
AU - Coryell, William
AU - Fiedorowicz, Jess G.
AU - Solomon, David
AU - Leon, Andrew C.
AU - Rice, John P.
AU - Keller, Martin B.
PY - 2012/3
Y1 - 2012/3
N2 - Background: It is well established that the presence of prominent anxiety within depressive episodes portends poorer outcomes. Important questions remain as to which anxiety features are important to outcome and how sustained their prognostic effects are over time. Aims: To examine the relative prognostic importance of specific anxiety features and to determine whether their effects persist over decades and apply to both unipolar and bipolar conditions. Method: Participants with unipolar (n = 476) or bipolar (n = 335) depressive disorders were intensively followed for a mean of 16.7 years (s.d. = 8.5). Results: The number and severity of anxiety symptoms, but not the presence of pre-existing anxiety disorders, showed a robust and continuous relationship to the subsequent time spent in depressive episodes in both unipolar and bipolar depressive disorder. The strength of this relationship changed little over five successive 5-year periods. Conclusions: The severity of current anxiety symptoms within depressive episodes correlates strongly with the persistence of subsequent depressive symptoms and this relationship is stable over decades.
AB - Background: It is well established that the presence of prominent anxiety within depressive episodes portends poorer outcomes. Important questions remain as to which anxiety features are important to outcome and how sustained their prognostic effects are over time. Aims: To examine the relative prognostic importance of specific anxiety features and to determine whether their effects persist over decades and apply to both unipolar and bipolar conditions. Method: Participants with unipolar (n = 476) or bipolar (n = 335) depressive disorders were intensively followed for a mean of 16.7 years (s.d. = 8.5). Results: The number and severity of anxiety symptoms, but not the presence of pre-existing anxiety disorders, showed a robust and continuous relationship to the subsequent time spent in depressive episodes in both unipolar and bipolar depressive disorder. The strength of this relationship changed little over five successive 5-year periods. Conclusions: The severity of current anxiety symptoms within depressive episodes correlates strongly with the persistence of subsequent depressive symptoms and this relationship is stable over decades.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84857756290&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1192/bjp.bp.110.081992
DO - 10.1192/bjp.bp.110.081992
M3 - Article
C2 - 21984801
AN - SCOPUS:84857756290
SN - 0007-1250
VL - 200
SP - 210
EP - 215
JO - British Journal of Psychiatry
JF - British Journal of Psychiatry
IS - 3
ER -