Rapid Eye Movement Density Among Adolescents With Major Depressive Disorder Revisited

Abstract

In the context of a follow-up study investigating the clinical continuity of major depressive disorder (MDD) and biological markers from prepuberty and adolescence to young adulthood, we are performing new analyses on polysomnographic data previously reported by Goetz et al¹in theArchives. During this process, we noted a finding that we did not originally report; this finding replicates some recent articles regarding rapid eye movement (REM) density during the first REM period. Goetz et al¹described the sleep of 49 adolescents, mostly outpatients (86%), in whom MDD (ie, 25 adolescents with endogenous MDD [MDD-E] and 24 adolescents with nonendogenous MDD [MDD-NE]) was diagnosed and 40 adolescents without a history of a psychiatric disorder. Findings included increased sleep latency, increased awake time, and decreased sleep efficiency among adolescents with depression vs adolescent controls. No unconfounded REM sleep differences between the adolescents with depression and adolescent controls were reported.