Factors related to age at depression onset: the role of SLC6A4 methylation, sex, exposure to stressful life events and personality in a sample of inpatients suffering from major depression

Abstract

Background An early onset of depression is associated with higher chronicity and disability, more stressful life events (SLEs), higher negative emotionality as described by the primary emotion SADNESS and more severe depressive symptomatology compared to depression onset later in life. Additionally, methylation of the serotonin transporter gene (SLC6A4) is associated with SLEs and depressive symptoms. Methods We investigated the relation of SLEs, SLC6A4 methylation in peripheral blood, the primary emotions SADNESS and SEEKING (measured by the Affective Neuroscience Personality Scales) as well as depressive symptom severity to age at depression onset in a sample of N = 146 inpatients suffering from major depression. Results Depressed women showed higher SADNESS (t (91.05) = − 3.17, p = 0.028, d = − 0.57) and higher SLC6A4 methylation (t (88.79) = − 2.95, p = 0.02, d = − 0.55) compared to men. There were associations between SLEs, primary emotions and depression severity, which partly differed between women and men. The Akaike information criterion (AIC) indicated the selection of a model including sex, SLEs, SEEKING and SADNESS for the prediction of age at depression onset. SLC6A4 methylation was not related to depression severity, age at depression onset or SLEs in the entire group, but positively related to depression severity in women. Conclusions Taken together, we provide further evidence that age at depression onset is associated with SLEs, personality and depression severity. However, we found no associations between age at onset and SLC6A4 methylation. The joint investigation of variables originating in biology, psychology and psychiatry could make an important contribution to understanding the development of depressive disorders by elucidating potential subtypes of depression.

Primary emotions as predictors for fear of COVID-19 in former inpatients with Major Depressive Disorder and healthy control participants

“…The model used to predict depression in this study was able to explain 52% of the variance in depressive symptoms [ 35 ]. Findings of a positive association between the primary emotion SADNESS and SLEs are also in line with the assumption of events associated with at least a symbolical loss triggering the SADNESS system in individuals suffering from depression [ 36 ]. This notion is further supported by a model including SLEs, SEEKING and SADNESS predicting a substantial amount of variance in depression onset [ 36 ].…”

“…Findings of a positive association between the primary emotion SADNESS and SLEs are also in line with the assumption of events associated with at least a symbolical loss triggering the SADNESS system in individuals suffering from depression [ 36 ]. This notion is further supported by a model including SLEs, SEEKING and SADNESS predicting a substantial amount of variance in depression onset [ 36 ]. Accordingly, SEEKING and SADNESS but also the primary emotion FEAR are obvious candidates for the prediction of fear of COVID-19 [ 32 ].…”

“…If separation distress in combination with the emotional shutdown is chronically prolonged, however, it will eventually culminate in depression. In accordance with this theory, previous studies found associations between both, low SEEKING as well as high SADNESS and depression severity [ 34 – 36 ]. In line with this, a recent study found depression to be positively associated with SADNESS and FEAR and negatively associated with SEEKING and PLAY [ 35 ].…”

“…These findings are in line with previous research [ 17 , 34 , 41 ]. Note that at the first point of measurement, the sample of inpatients suffering from depression partially overlapped with samples analyzed in previous studies [ 17 , 34 – 36 ]. SLEs like sexual abuse are associated with an increased risk of a lifetime diagnosis of depression [ 58 ].…”

Affective Neuroscience Personality Scales and Early Maladaptive Schemas in Depressive Disorders

“…Interestingly, while there was a (non-significant) positive association between SADNESS and fear of COVID-19 in the healthy controls, SADNESS was negatively associated with fear of COVID-19 in the former inpatients [86]. Sanwald et al [87] also confirmed the increased activity of the SADNESS system with decreased activity of the SEEKING system among young women suffering from depressive disorders compared to male subjects. Montag et al [88] also observed strong associations between higher FEAR and SADNESS scores and depressive tendencies in healthy subjects and depressed individuals.…”