Sex and depression in the national comorbidity survey. II: Cohort effects

Abstract

Data from a nationally representative sample of the general population are used to study cohort differences in the prevalence of DSM-III-R Major Depressive Episode (MDE). We document increasing lifetime prevalence of MDE among both men and women in more recent cohorts, but no major change in the sex ratio over the 40-year period retrospectively covered in the survey. We find a cohort difference in 12-month MDE, with older women much more likely than older men to have recurrent episodes. This sex difference in recurrence plays an important part in the elevated 12-month prevalence of depression among women compared to men in the 45-54 age range.

Long-term follow-up of prenatally treated children at risk for congenital adrenal hyperplasia: does dexamethasone cause behavioural problems?

“…The schematic analysis of the group that refused to participate versus the group that participated in the study did not show any significant differences between the groups, however. The second factor that may increase the risk of a type II error is the fact that more DEX-treated children lived in rural areas compared with controls and the prevalence of behavioural problems and mental disorders among children and adolescents has been reported to be similar in urban and rural areas (44) or even lower in rural areas (45,46). This may, at least theoretically, have an impact on our results by 'masking' problems in the treated group.…”

Sex Differences in the Regulation of Serotonergic Transmission and Behavior in 5-HT Receptor Knockout Mice

“…Depression is the most significant mental health risk for women, with women twice as likely to develop major depression as men (Kessler et al, 1994;Kessler, 2003;Murray and Lopez, 1997;Weissman and Olfson, 1995). Alterations in the tone of serotonin (5-HT) transmission may be a major contributor to gender disparity (Akiskal, 1989;Pfaff, 1997;Bagdy, 1998;Joffe and Cohen, 1998), and women have shown decreased whole brain 5-HT synthesis (Nishizawa et al, 1997), increased cerebrospinal fluid levels of the 5-HT metabolite 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA), and decreased 5-HT 2 receptor binding in specific brain regions (Biver et al, 1996) when compared to men.…”

“…Currently, the most common class of effective antidepressant drugs are selective 5-HT reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) that enhance serotonergic neurotransmission by blocking reuptake (Delgado et al, 1999). Approximately 70% of prescribed SSRIs are given to women (Kessler et al, 1994;Kessler, 2003). While some studies indicate that sex may moderate the response to antidepressants, with women exhibiting a preferential response to SSRIs compared to tricyclic antidepressants (Kornstein et al, 2000;Martenyi et al, 2001), others have found no difference in treatment efficacy (Parker et al, 2003).…”

To study the prevalence of depression and effect of home environment on depression among school going children

“…11,12 Costello et al in their study found that boys "exceed girls" in the rate of depression prior to adolescence. 13 There are many studies which report that in adolescence prevalence rates of depression is much higher in girls comparison to boys and most studies shows that this difference occurs after early to midadolescence usually after the age of 14 yrs.…”