Association between acute critical life events and the speed of onset of depressive episodes in male and female depressed patients

Table 3 Clinical characteristics of the sample (N = 100)

Variables	Total sample (N = 100)	Males (N = 39)	Females (N = 61)	P
HDRS total score (mean (SD))^d	20.51 (5.10)	21.92 (4.90)	19.61 (5.05)	0.03^b
Number of previous depressive episodes (mean (SD))	4.10 (6.88) (n = 94)	4.08 (5.52) (n = 37)	4.11 (7.68) (n = 57)	0.73^b
Main diagnosis (according to ICD-10 criteria)	–	–	–	0.61^c
- F32: Depressive episode (%)^e	43 (43%)	18 (46.2%)	25 (41.0%)	–
- F33: Recurrent depressive disorder (%)	57 (57%)	21 (53.8%)	36 (59.0%)	–
Duration of the current depressive episode (in months) (Mean (SD))	4.52 (4.92)	3.79 (4.89)	4.98 (4.92)	0.11^b
Age at the onset of depression (in years) (Mean (SD))	36.11 (18.59)	36.59 (18.27)	35.80 (18.94)	0.66^b
Number of previous suicide attempts (Mean (SD))	0.53 (1.25)	0.72 (1.38)	0.41 (1.16)	0.02^b

Notes: HDRS: 17-item version of the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression [17]; ICD-10: International statistical classification of diseases and related health problems; 10th revision [15]; SD: standard deviation
^aFisher’s exact test (if at least one cell had an expected frequency < 5); ^b Mann-Whitney U test; ^c Chi-square test for two-by-two tables. All statistical tests had been two-sided
^dThere had been two missing values regarding HDRS items 12 and 17 which had been imputed by using the item-specific arithmetical means. Thus, it was possible to compute HDRS sum scores for the total sample (N = 100)
^eAll patients in this group were characterized by a first onset of depression

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