Association between social withdrawal and suicidal ideation in patients with major depressive disorder: The mediational role of emotional symptoms.

BACKGROUND: The study was designed to investigate the associations between social withdrawal, emotional symptoms, and suicide ideation in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). METHODS: This cross-sectional study included 2678 MDD patients from the National Survey on Symptomatology of Depression (NSSD). Differences in the sociodemographic factors, clinical characteristics, suicide ideation, and emotional symptoms were compared in patients with different frequencies of social withdrawal. Pearson correlation, multiple linear regression analysis, and mediation analysis were employed to assess the contribution of social withdrawal to suicide ideation. RESULTS: MDD patients with a higher frequency of social withdrawal were prone to have a higher frequency of suicide ideation (p for trend <0.001) and history of suicide behavior (p for trend <0.001). Multiple linear regression analysis showed that there was a dose-response relationship between social withdrawal and suicide ideation in MDD patients, but this association became insignificant after adjusting for emotional symptoms. Mediation analysis suggested that all of the emotional symptoms had significant mediating effects on the association between social withdrawal and suicide ideation in MDD patients (p < 0.05). The magnitude of mediation varied between 4.3 % and 64.3 %, with the largest mediating effect in the feeling of despair (64.3 %), helplessness (41.2 %), and loneliness (40.0 %). CONCLUSION: Our study provides evidence that social withdrawal was a common clinical presentation and it may increase the risk for suicide through emotional symptoms in MDD patients. LIMITATIONS: Causal conclusions could not be drawn between social withdrawal, emotional symptoms, and suicide ideation because of the cross-sectional design of the study.

Associations between gastrointestinal symptoms, medication use, and spontaneous drug discontinuation in patients with major depressive disorder in China.

BACKGROUND: The study was designed to investigate the associations between gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms, medication use, and spontaneous drug discontinuation (SDD) in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). METHODS: This cross-sectional study included 3256 MDD patients from the National Survey on Symptomatology of Depression (NSSD). Differences in the sociodemographic factors, clinical characteristics, medication use, and self-reported reasons for SDD were compared in patients with different frequencies of GI symptoms. A multiple logistic regression analysis was employed to assess the contribution of GI symptoms to the risk of spontaneous drug discontinuation. RESULTS: MDD patients with a higher frequency of GI symptoms were prone to have higher proportions of mood stabilizer and benzodiazepine uses (ps for trend < 0.001) but a lower proportion of SNRI use (pfor trend < 0.001). With the increase in GI symptoms, patients were prone to report worries about long-term side effects (pfor trend < 0.001), with the patients stating ineffective treatments (pfor trend = 0.002) and intolerance of adverse drug reactions (pfor trend = 0.022) as the reasons for SDD. Compared with those patients without GI symptoms, all of the MDD patients with GI symptom frequencies of several days (OR = 1.317; 95 % CI: 1.045-1.660), more than half of all days (OR = 1.305; 95 % CI: 1.005-1.695), and nearly every day (OR = 1.820; 95 %: 1.309-2.531) had an increased risk of SDD. CONCLUSION: GI symptoms are highly associated with drug discontinuation in MDD patients. These findings may have important implications for clinical treatment options, as well as for drug adherence management, in MDD patients.

Screening and intervention of psychological moderate and high risk pregnant women / 中国实用护理杂志

Objective:To find out the occurrence of anxiety and depressive symptoms, and the major risk factors, and the participation rate, as well as the experience of medical personnel who are involved in the intervention.Methods:Since January 2018, a pilot intervention had been carried out on pregnant women registered in the antenatal clinic. The Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale and the Patient Health Questionnaires were used as screening tools for anxiety and depression symptoms, and risk factors were screened too. Interventions were carried out on the psychological moderate and high risk women by obstetric medical staff and mental health personnel. A qualitative interview was conducted on the intervention providers.Results:A total of 9 488 pregnant women were included, and the positive rate of moderate anxiety symptoms was 3.0%, the positive rate of severe anxiety symptoms was 1.4%; the positive rate of moderate depression symptoms was 18.1%, and the positive rate of severe depressive symptoms was 5.2%; the comorbidity rate of anxiety and depression symptoms was 3.4%. The first three risk factors for pregnant women with anxiety symptoms were: once had premenstrual stress symptom, excessive fear of fetal growth, previous abnormal maternal history; the first three risk factors for pregnant women with depressive symptoms: once had premenstrual stress symptom, previous abnormal maternal history, this pregnancy was cherished; the first three risk factors for pregnant women with moderate and above anxiety combined with depression were: once had premenstrual stress symptom, excessive fear of fetal growth, and fear the delivery process is not successful. Among the psychological moderate risk pregnant women, 19.1% participated in the midwife joint counselor clinic, and 1.7% participated in the obstetrician joint psychological specialist nurse clinic, 2.2% of the pregnant women with high risk participated in the psychological multidisciplinary consultation, and 1.7% referred to the psychiatric department. From the interviews, providers believed that it was necessary to further strengthen the ability of psychological intervention capacity, and the psychological screening tools needed to be improved, and the problems sought by pregnant women involved in physical, psychological and social aspects, and the influence of pregnant women's treatment compliance included multiple factors.Conclusions:The psychological health care service during pregnancy was feasible, but the screening scales needed further examination. The mental health care ability of obstetric medical staff needed to be strengthened, and the compliance of pregnant women with mental health services needed to be improved.