Non-depressed Group Research Articles

Temporal Trends and Differences in Sexuality among Depressed and Non-Depressed Adults in the United States.

This study aimed to examine temporal trends and differences in sexuality between depressed and non-depressed adults aged 18-59 in the United States from 2005 to 2016. A total of 21,437 people (5432 with depression) were enrolled in this cross-sectional study. From 2005-2008 to 2013-2016, the average age at first sexual intercourse decreased, while the proportion of normal frequency of sexual activity and heterosexual sexual orientation increased among all the participants. Some differences in sexuality were found between the depressed and non-depressed groups. The average age at first sexual intercourse (p < 0.001), the proportion of normal frequency of sexual activity (p < 0.001), and heterosexual sexual orientation (p < 0.001) were lower in depressed participants, and the differences did not change over time (pfor trend = 0.926 of average age at first sexual intercourse, pfor trend = 0.823 of normal frequency of sexual activity, pfor trend = 0.926 of heterosexual sexual orientation). Moreover, these differences were associated with marital status (pfor interaction < 0.001 by average age at first sexual intercourse), employment status (pfor interaction < 0.001 by average age at first sexual intercourse), education status (pfor interaction = 0.023 by heterosexual sexual orientation) and family income status (pfor interaction = 0.013 by average age at first sexual intercourse and pfor interaction = 0.017 by normal frequency of sexual activity). In conclusion, the study found that the age at first sexual intercourse decreased and the frequency of sexual intercourse increased in all the participants, and differences in sexuality between depressed and non-depressed participants were present; however, these differences had no further increase or decrease during the 12-year period. These differences were associated with marital status, employment status, education status, and family income status. These findings show differences in sexuality between depressed and non-depressed patients but are somewhat different from previous studies; the results may provide directions for future research and social work.

Depression, Anxiety, Stress and Anger of the Cabin Crew during the COVID-19 Pandemic in South Korea.

This study examines the levels of depression, anxiety, stress, and state and trait anger of cabin crews, as well as the differences in the main variables and general characteristics between the depression and anxiety groups, during the COVID-19 pandemic. This descriptive cross-sectional study used data from 161 Korean cabin crew members. Data were analyzed using descriptive analysis, independent t-tests, and chi-square tests. Of the participants, 62.7% were women, and 52.2% and 46.6% were classified into the depression and anxiety groups, respectively. No differences in the general characteristics between the non-depression and depression groups were found. However, in the anxiety group, there were significant differences in age, marital status, position, and work type during the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, the anxiety group showed a higher anger state (approximately 6.76 times higher than the normal group) than the depression group (approximately 4.90 times higher than the normal group). In a pandemic, airlines should screen cabin crews for depression and anxiety. The development and applications of mental health education for high-risk groups should include anger intervention.

Promoter methylation changes in the placenta involved in the relationship between prenatal depression and small for gestational age

BackgroundRecent studies suggest that the incidence of small for gestational age (SGA) birth related to maternal depression, but the mechanism is unclear. The aim of this study was to explore the changes of promoter methylation in the placenta which may be involved in the relationship between prenatal depression and SGA.MethodsThree hundred forty-five pregnant women were enrolled in this prospective cohort study. Perinatal emotion and sleep quality in the second and third trimesters were assessed using self-rating depression scale, self-rating anxiety scale, and Pittsburgh sleep quality index. According to the exposure (depressed emotion of mother) and outcome (SGA), the placentas were divided into four groups. Methylation of the promoter regions of the placental CRH, HSD11β2, SLA16A10, DIO3, and MTNR1B genes was determined using next generation sequencing based on bisulfite sequencing PCR.ResultsThere were 97 (28.1%) and 95 (27.5%) pregnant women who had depression in the second trimester and third trimester, respectively. Thirty-five pregnant women had an SGA birth. The incidence of SGA births in this prospective cohort was 10.1%. The risk factors of SGA birth were low BMI of pregnancy women (RR = 0.71, 95%CI = 0.54 ~ 0.92), hypertensive disorder complicating pregnancy (HDCP, RR = 4.7, 95%CI = 1.18 ~ 18.72), and maternal depression in the second trimester (RR = 3.71, 95%CI = 1.31 ~ 12.16). We found that the CRH and HSD11β2 methylation levels were higher in the depression group than those in the non-depression group. Methylation levels of DIO3 were higher in SGA group than that in the non-SGA group. Higher methylation levels of CRH correlated with higher methylation levels of DIO3 in the placenta.ConclusionsMaternal depression in the second trimester may lead to the changes of methylation levels in the promoter region of CRH and HSD11β2 gene, while the changes of methylation of DIO3 in subsequent could related to SGA. This study suggests that maternal depressed emotion during pregnancy may result in SGA due to the epigenetic changes of placenta.

Influence of depression on the association between colder indoor temperature and higher blood pressure.

Cold exposure accounts for more than 7% of all-cause mortality worldwide, and cold-induced blood pressure (BP) elevation and consequent cardiovascular events are partially responsible. For prevention, it is important to identify risk factors for exaggerated temperature-sensitivity of BP but this is not fully understood. This study investigated whether depressive symptoms affect the relationship between indoor temperature and BP. We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of 1076 community-based individuals who were at least 60 years of age. Depressive symptoms were assessed using the 15-item Geriatric Depression Scale at a cutoff point of 4/5. We performed ambulatory BP monitoring and indoor temperature measurement on two consecutive days during the cold season in Nara, Japan. When using daytime SBP as a dependent variable, multilevel linear regression analyses showed that lower daytime indoor temperature was significantly associated with higher daytime SBP in the depressive group (n = 216, β = -0.804, P < 0.001) but not in the nondepressive group (n = 860, β = -0.173, P = 0.120); moreover, a significant interaction between depression and daytime indoor temperature was observed (P = 0.014). These relationships were independent of potential confounders including age, gender, BMI, medications, and physical activity. Similar results were obtained for morning SBP, nocturnal SBP dipping, and morning BP surge. The results suggest that depressive participants are more likely to have cold-induced BP elevation than nondepressive participants. Further longitudinal studies are warranted to determine whether people with depressive symptoms are at a high risk for cold-related cardiovascular events.

Characteristics of House-Tree-Person Drawing Test in Junior High School Students with Depressive Symptoms.

This study aims to explore the drawing characteristics of the house-tree-person drawing test (HTP) in junior high school students with depressive symptoms. A total of 167 junior high school students were recruited and completed HTP and questionnaires. 12 drawing characteristics of HTP were extracted and compared to explore the potential drawing characteristics of depressive symptoms. Among 12 drawing characteristics, eight drawing characteristics appeared more frequently in the depressed group (CES-D ≥ 20) than in the non-depressed group (CES-D < 20), while one drawing characteristic appeared with a lower frequency. Further, controlling for the risk perception of COVID-19, seven drawing characteristics, not suggestive of movement, lacking details, blackening the paper, drawing in an only dark color, drawing a detailed crown, hands behind the back, and omitting expression, emerged as predictors of depressive symptoms (CES-D ≥ 20) in junior high school students. Seven drawing characteristics of HTP are significantly associated with depressive symptoms in junior high school students. HTP is insightful for early screening for junior high school students with depressive symptoms.

Basic psychological need satisfaction and frustration in major depressive disorder.

Basic psychological needs theory postulates that a social environment that satisfies individuals’ three basic psychological needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness leads to optimal growth and well-being. On the other hand, the frustration of these needs is associated with ill-being and depressive symptoms foremost investigated in non-clinical samples; yet, there is a paucity of research on need frustration in clinical samples. Survey data were compared between adult individuals with major depressive disorder (MDD; n = 115; 48.69% female; 38.46 years, SD = 10.46) with those of a non-depressed comparison sample (n = 201; 53.23% female; 30.16 years, SD = 12.81). Need profiles were examined with a linear mixed model (LMM). Individuals with depression reported higher levels of frustration and lower levels of satisfaction in relation to the three basic psychological needs when compared to non-depressed adults. The difference between depressed and non-depressed groups was significantly larger for frustration than satisfaction regarding the needs for relatedness and competence. LMM correlation parameters confirmed the expected positive correlation between the three needs. This is the first study showing substantial differences in need-based experiences between depressed and non-depressed adults. The results confirm basic assumptions of the self-determination theory and have preliminary implications in tailoring therapy for depression.

Men's Depression, Externalizing, and DSM-5-TR: Primary Signs and Symptoms or Co-occurring Symptoms?

Men's Depression, Externalizing, and DSM-5-TR: Primary Signs and Symptoms or Co-occurring Symptoms?

Characterized profiles of gut microbiota in morphine abstinence-induced depressive-like behavior

Morphine is the most widely used analgesic for pain management worldwide. Abstinence of morphine could lead to neuropsychiatric symptoms, including depression. Gut microbiota is believed to contribute to the development of depression. However, the characteristics and potential role of gut microbiota in morphine abstinence-induced depression remain unclear. In the present study, we first established morphine abstinence-induced depressive behavior in mice. After dividing the mice into depressive and non-depressive groups, the gut microbiota of the mice was detected by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. The difference in the diversities and abundance of the gut microbiota were analyzed between groups. Then, the representative microbial markers that could distinguish each group were identified. In addition, gene function prediction of the operational taxonomic units (OTUs) with differential abundance between the depressive and non-depressive groups after morphine abstinence was conducted. Our results suggested that four weeks of abstinence from morphine did not change the richness of the gut microbiota. However, morphine abstinence influenced the gut microbial composition. Several specific genera of gut microbiota were identified as markers for each group. Interestingly, gene function prediction found that the fatty acid metabolism pathway was enriched in the OUTs in the depressive group compared with the non-depressive group after morphine abstinence. Our data suggested that gut microbiota dysbiosis was associated with morphine abstinence-induced depressive behavior, possibly by implicating the fatty acid metabolism pathway.

Path analysis of influencing factors for prenatal depressive symptoms in pregnant women

ObjectivesTo explore the influencing factors and relationships associated with prenatal depressive symptoms in pregnant women. MethodsThis study was a survey based cross-sectional investigation conducted on 750 pregnant women who underwent pregnancy and delivery examinations in a third class hospital in Urumqi City, and their general information was collected and a patient health questionnaire using a depression scale (Patients' Health Questionnaire Depression Scale - 9 item, PHQ - 9). Spss25.0 was used to compare the differences between the maternal depressive symptoms group and the non-depressed group, and Amos23.0 was used to construct a structural equation model to explore the influencing factors. ResultsThe incidence of depressive symptoms in 750 pregnant women was 13.6 % (102/750) and maternal prenatal depressive symptoms was related to occupation, total monthly income, physical exercise, psychological preparation for pregnancy, residence status, couple relationship, knowledge about pregnancy and other factors (P < 0.05). Binary logistic regression analysis showed that the independent risk factors for prenatal depressive symptoms in pregnant women included occupation (OR = 2.492), monthly gross income (OR = 1.293), psychological preparation for pregnancy (OR = 1.882), residential status (OR = 1.831), knowledge about pregnancy (OR = 2.028), prenatal anxiety (OR = 1.415), and pregnancy stress (OR = 4.590). The constructed path analysis model had good a fit (x2/DF = 3.805, GFI = 0.976, AGFI = 0.946, NFI = 0.902, CFI = 0.924, RMSEA = 0.061) and the path analysis showed that pregnancy stress had only a direct effect on prenatal depressive symptoms (effect value 0.169). DiscussionThe binary logistic regression model showed that knowledge about pregnancy had the greatest influence on prenatal depressive symptoms, and the popularization of pregnancy knowledge reduced prenatal depressive symptoms.

Assessing the Possible Effect of Depression on Driving Behavior: A Cross-sectional Study

Background: Driving as a complex behavior pattern is influenced by a set of conscious and unconscious factors. One of the most important causes of traffic accidents in Iran is human factors, which include the driver's mental status, personality traits, mental illnesses, or psychiatric disorders. Depression is one of the most common psychiatric disorders affecting driving behavior. Objectives: The aim of this study was to examine whether depression may affect driving performance. Methods: This cross-sectional study was done on 100 participants who were divided into two groups, patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) and the healthy control group. Driving behavior was assessed by the Manchester Driving Behavior Questionnaire (MDBQ), and three computerized tests [Tower of London Test, Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), and reaction time] were used to evaluate the participants’ neuropsychiatric characteristics. The results were compared between the two groups using SPSS version 19. Results: There were 51 cases in the MDD group (male = 59%, female = 41%) and 50 patients in the non-depressed group (male = 22%, female = 78%). The mean age of the group with MDD and the control group was 38 ± 8 and 36 ± 9 years, respectively, with no significant differences (P = 0.23). The results showed that the highest mean reaction time (875 ± 198, P = 0.018) was related to the depressed non-risky drivers, and the depressed risky drivers showed the worse function in all domains of WCST (trials to complete first category: 28 ± 23, P = 0.002, total error: 33 ± 9, P = 0.001, and perseveration error: 15 ± 9, P = 0.009) in comparison with another group. Considering the mean score of the tower of London test, the non-depressed non-risky drivers showed the shortest time (219 ± 172, P = 0.001) spent on doing the task, while the depressed non-risky drivers showed the longest mean latency time (213 ± 96, P = 0.001). Conclusions: The findings of the present study showed that depression is associated with deficits in multiple cognitive domains, such as executive function, which may lead to a significant decline in different aspects of driving behavior.

Association of work environment with stress and depression among Japanese workers.

There is a lack of studies that investigated the effect of a wide range of work environmental factors on stress and depression in Japan. To examine the association of work environment factors with stress and depression among workers in Japan. We conducted questionnaire surveys of workers that mainly engage in desk work in Japan. Stress was assessed through the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), depression through the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), and work environment through physical and psychological workplace environment questionnaires. Workers were divided into low and high stress groups based on PSS score (median split), and divided into non-depressed and depressed groups based on their PHQ-9 score (< 5, and ≥5); these groups were then compared with their working environment. In addition, a multiple regression analysis was performed. Responses were obtained from 210 subjects. Multiple regression analysis showed that "Ability to work at one's own pace" and "Ability to apply personal viewpoint to work," etc., had effect on stress, while "Workplace harassment" and "Support from colleagues," etc., had effect on depression. The results suggest that stress and depression in Japanese workers are related to factors such as job demands, control of work, workplace harassment, and psychological safety.

The Relationship between Major Depression and Perceptions of Organizational Justice

The aim of the study is to examine the idea that depressed and non-depressed employees hold different perceptions regarding the justice of their organizations, and that depressed employees are more sensitive to unfairness than fairness. The study used comparative design. All participants were employees participated voluntarily in this study. They were divided evenly into two groups, diagnosed depression outpatients (n = 60) referred by their physician in one of Kuwaiti mental health center, and nondepressed participants (n = 60) visited during their work period. Both sexes were distributed evenly within these two groups. The participants completed three measures: organizational justice, organizational injustice, and the Beck Depression Inventory. Using justice and injustice measures with depressed and non-depressed employees is a new approach that could clarify the role of depression in the perception of the organizational justice. The results shows that the differences between the two groups in all justice and injustice subscales are significant at .001. The depressed group had higher injustice means; and the non-depressed group had higher justice means. The two groups separately do differentiate between justice and injustice events, especially for non-depressed group where injustice means tend to be significantly higher than the justice mean. The study concluded that the emotional state of the depressed patient might affect how he/she perceive justice and injustice events, but the opposite remains possible. Individuals estimate injustice events more than counterpart justice events, regardless of depression.

The relationship between Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment parameters and depression in elderly patients.

BackgroundDepression is common and serious among elderly patients. The treatment of elderly depression is often delayed owing to insufficient diagnosis, which eventually leads to adverse consequences.AimsTo explore the association between the parameters of the Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment and depression in elderly patients.MethodsA cross-sectional study of 211 outpatients and inpatients aged ≥ 65 years from the Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment database was conducted. A Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment inventory was prepared by compiling and screening general characteristics, chronic diseases (cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and peptic ulcer disease), nutritional status, daily living ability, anthropometric measurements (body mass index (BMI), upper arm circumference, and calf circumference), and blood biochemical indicators (hemoglobin, albumin, prealbumin, triglycerides, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol). The Geriatric Depression Scale was also conducted for each elderly patient to screen for depression. A multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to determine the association between the parameters of the Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment and geriatric depression.ResultsThere were 63 patients in the depression group with a median age of 84.00 years, and 148 patients in the non-depression group with a median age of 78.50 years. After controlling for confounders, the risk of depression in elderly patients with cardiovascular diseases was 6.011 times higher than that in those without cardiovascular diseases (p < 0.001); and the risk of depression in elderly patients with peptic ulcer diseases was 4.352 times higher than that in those without peptic ulcer diseases (p < 0.001); the risk of depression in elderly patients decreased by 22.6% for each 1-point increase in the Mini Nutritional Assessment (p < 0.001). The risk of depression in elderly patients decreased by 19.9% for each 1-point increase in calf circumference (p = 0.002), and by 13.0% for each 1-point increase in albumin (p = 0.014).ConclusionOur findings suggest that Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment parameters, such as cardiovascular disease, peptic ulcer disease, Mini Nutritional Assessment score, calf circumference, and albumin, were associated with depression. The Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment can assist in the early identification of depression in the elderly population.

Association Between Gut Microbiota and Depressive Symptoms: A Cross-Sectional Population-Based Study in South Korea.

This study aimed to investigate the association between gut microbiota and depressive symptoms in a large population cohort of Korean adults. Overall, 1238 participants were included in the study. Participants were categorized into depressed or non-depressed groups, based on the depressive symptoms reported on the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Rating Scale for Depression, with a cutoff score of 16, and their fecal microbiota was profiled using 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequencing. Several alpha and beta diversity measures were also estimated. The association between depressive symptoms and gut microbiota was analyzed using generalized linear models. The inferred function of the metagenomes was compared between the two groups. There were no consistent differences in alpha and beta diversity between the depressed and non-depressed groups. However, the continuous measure of depressive symptoms was inversely associated with one of four measures of alpha diversity (Shannon's diversity, p = .021). We also found a substantial difference between the depressed and non-depressed groups in the Bray-Curtis dissimilarity among the four beta diversity indices ( p = .004). Participants whose depressive symptoms exceeded a clinical cutoff score had a lower relative abundance of the genus Faecalibacterium when compared with controls (coefficient = -0.025, q = 0.047). However, the depressed group had a significantly higher abundance of the genus Oscillospira than did the non-depressed group (coefficient = 0.002, q = 0.023). Our findings contribute to the identification of potential relationships between the gut microbiota and depressive symptoms and provide useful insights for developing microbiota-based interventions for patients with depressive symptoms.

Association between physical activity levels and depressive symptoms in patients with minor ischemic stroke

ObjectivePost-stroke depression is associated with stroke recurrence and it is necessary to identify its influencing factors. The study aims to determine whether physical activity during hospitalization, as measured by accelerometer, was associated with depression after discharge in patients with minor ischemic stroke. Materials and methodsThis prospective observational study assessed 76 patients with minor ischemic stroke (aged 71.2 years) admitted to an acute care hospital. Depressive symptoms 3 months after discharge from the hospital was assessed using a questionnaire sent by mail. Baseline was set during hospitalization, and accelerometers were used to measure sedentary behavior, light and moderate-to-vigorous physical activities during hospitalization. ResultsThree months after hospital discharge, 14 patients (18.4%) were placed in the depressive symptom group, with significantly more sedentary behavior (p = 0.021), less light physical activity (p = 0.016) and more depressive symptoms during hospitalization (p = 0.005) than in the non-depressive symptom group. Logistic regression analysis showed that sedentary behavior (odds ratio = 1.130, 95% confidence interval = 1.013‒1.281, p = 0.028) and light-intensity physical activity (odds ratio = 0.853, 95% confidence interval = 0.746‒0.976, p = 0.021) were independent factors for depressive symptoms at three months after discharge. Moderate to vigorous physical activity was not an independent factor. ConclusionsSedentary behavior and light-intensity physical activity during hospitalization were associated with depressive symptoms in patients with minor ischemic stroke after discharge. Reducing sedentary behavior and increasing light-intensity physical activity as part of inpatient rehabilitation may help prevent post-stroke depression.

Depression and Severity Detection Based on Body Kinematic Features: Using Kinect Recorded Skeleton Data of Simple Action.

Relative limb movement is an important feature in assessing depression. In this study, we looked into whether a skeleton-mimetic task using natural stimuli may help people recognize depression. We innovatively used Kinect V2 to collect participant data. Sequential skeletal data was directly extracted from the original Kinect-3D and tetrad coordinates of the participant's 25 body joints. Two constructed skeletal datasets of whole-body joints (including binary classification and multi classification) were input into the proposed model for depression recognition after data preparation. We improved the temporal convolution network (TCN), creating novel spatial attention dilated TCN (SATCN) network that included a hierarchy of temporal convolution groups with different dilated convolution scales to capture important skeletal features and a spatial attention block for final result prediction. The depression and non-depression groups can be classified automatically with a maximum accuracy of 75.8% in the binary classification task, and 64.3% accuracy in the multi classification dataset to recognize more fine-grained identification of depression severity, according to experimental results. Our experiments and methods based on Kinect V2 can not only identify and screen depression patients but also effectively observe the recovery level of depression patients during the recovery process. For example, in the change from severe depression to moderate or mild depression multi classification dataset.

Self-Reported Depression Is Associated With Aberration in Emotional Reactivity and Emotional Concept Coding.

Cognitive impairment, alterations in mood, emotion dysregulation are just a few of the consequences of depression. Despite depression being reported as the most common mental disorder worldwide, examining depression or risks of depression is still challenging. Emotional reactivity has been observed to predict the risk of depression, but the results have been mixed for negative emotional reactivity (NER). To better understand the emotional response conflict, we asked our participants to describe their feeling in meaningful sentences alongside reporting their reactions to the emotionally evocative words. We presented a word on the screen and asked participants to perform two tasks, rate their feeling after reading the word using the self-assessment manikin (SAM) scale, and describe their feeling using the property generation task. The emotional content was analyzed using a novel machine-learning algorithm approach. We performed these two tasks in blocks and randomized their order across participants. Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) was used to categorize participants into self-reported non-depressed (ND) and depressed (D) groups. Compared to the ND, the D group reported reduced positive emotional reactivity when presented with extremely pleasant words regardless of their arousal levels. However, no significant difference was observed between the D and ND groups for negative emotional reactivity. In contrast, we observed increased sadness and inclination toward low negative context from descriptive content by the D compared to the ND group. The positive content analyses showed mixed results. The contrasting results between the emotional reactivity and emotional content analyses demand further examination between cohorts of self-reported depressive symptoms, no-symptoms, and MDD patients to better examine the risks of depression and help design early interventions.

Evaluation of depressive disorder in end-stage renal disease patients by proton diffusion tensor imaging

This study aimed to evaluate the depressive disorder in the end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients by proton diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). Fifty-four ESRD patients and 30 healthy subjects were enrolled and received brain DTI. ESRD patients were further divided into non-depression group (nD-ESRD, n=28) and depression group (D-ESRD, n=26). The DTI parameters were collected, and the changes in the white matter fibers microstructure were compared among groups. The correlations of fractional anisotropy (FA) value and laboratory findings with Hamilton Depression Scale (HAMD) 17 score were further evaluated in the D-ESRD group. Results showed that there were significant differences in the course of disease and HAMD17 score (P < 0.05) among three groups. There were significant differences in the serum Ca2+ (t = 3.976, P = 0.032), creatinine (t = 2.024, P = 0.049) and urea nitrogen (t = 2.930, P = 0.037) among three groups. Marked differences were noted in the DTI values of multiple brain regions among three groups. In the D-ESRD group, the FA values of left frontal white matter (r = −0.672, P = 0.003) and left anterior limb of internal capsule (r = −0.476, P = 0.023) were related to the HAMD17 score, and the serum Ca2+ (r = 0.581, P = 0.031) and urea nitrogen (r = 0.796, P = 0.003) were associated with the HAMD17 score. Thus, DTI parameters (especially the change in FA value) are expected to be an auxiliary diagnostic tool to objectively evaluate depression in ESRD patients, which is helpful for the early treatment of depression.

Associated factors of depressive symptoms in patients with erectile dysfunction

The presence of depression in patients with erectile dysfunction not only worsened the condition but also makes its management more complicated. We conducted a cross-sectional study to investigate several factors associated with depression of 131 patients with erectile dysfunction at Hanoi Medical University Hospital. The depression rate of the subjects was 45.8%. Compared with the non-depressive group, the patients with depression had a lower mean age (39 ± 13.3 and 50 ± 14.1 years old, p &lt; 0.001) and a greater frequency of masturbation (0.6 ± 1 and 0.1 ± 0.5 times/week, p = 0.001). The factors that correlate with the severity of depression on the PHQ-9 scale were age and masturbation frequency (r = -0.352 and 0.346, p &lt; 0.001). The factors associated with depression include age under 40 (OR = 5.15, p &lt; 0.001), single (OR = 6.53, p &lt; 0.001), masturbation (OR = 5.02, p = 0.001) and the sudden onset of erectile dysfunction (OR = 2.36, p = 0.03). The results show that depression occurs in patients with erectile dysfunction at a relatively high rate, therefore, depression needs to be screened for this group of patients, especially those with risk factors.

Safety of Japanese herbal Kampo medicines for the treatment of depression during pregnancy.

To clarify the fetal safety of herbal Kampo medicines, including Hange-koboku-to, Koso-san, Nyoshin-san, Yokukansan, Yokukansan-kachinpi-hange, Saiko-keishikankyo-to, Keishi-karyukotu-borei-to, and Kanbaku-taisou-to, when administered to pregnant women with depression using a large healthcare administrative database. We extracted data from the JMDC Claims Database (2005-2018) for this retrospective cohort study of pregnant women aged 19 years or older admitted to obstetric clinics or hospitals for delivery. Participants were classified into four groups: those without depression, those diagnosed with depression without medication, those given Kampo medicines for depression, and those given western medicines for depression. Neonatal outcomes (congenital anomalies, low birth weight, and preterm birth) were considered as the safety outcome measures. We identified 179 707 eligible mothers. The adverse outcomes did not differ significantly between participants receiving Kampo medicine and those not diagnosed with depression during pregnancy. The proportion of low-birth-weight neonates did not differ significantly between the Kampo medicine and non-depression groups (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 1.28; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.86-1.91), but was significantly higher in the unmedicated depression group (aOR 1.31; 95% CI 1.07-1.61) and western medicine group (aOR 1.47; 95% CI 1.18-1.83). Kampo medicines are safe for treating depression during pregnancy without increasing the incidence of congenital anomalies, low birth weight, or preterm birth.