Clinical study of comparing comorbidity between depression and neurological disorder with depressive disorder

Abstract

To compare the clinical traits in comorbidity between depression and neurological disorder with depressive disorder and explore the characteristic of the outpatients with neurological disorder comorbidity in depression. According to Diagnosis and Statistic Manual for Mental Disorder-IV (DSM-IV) criteria, outpatients were diagnosed as depressive disorder at Departments of Neurology and Psychology. We used HAMD-17 scale to evaluate the patient's severity. There was no statistical difference in severity of depression in two groups. But the clinical traits showed significant differences between two outpatient groups: the outpatients with neurological disorder comorbidity in depression were elder, had more somatic disorders and a higher retard symptom factor score while the other are relative younger, have less physical disorders and higher the core symptom factor score on the other hand. The patients of comorbidity between depression and neurological disorders have unique clinical traits. Thus it will be helpful to improve the identification of diagnosis and choose an appropriate treatment if we know the differences well.