BJP RCPsych Publications
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Psychiatric Bulletin Advances in Psychiatric Treatment All RCPsych Journals
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     

This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Submit an eLetter
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when eLetters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Duggan, C.
Right arrow Articles by Murray, R.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Duggan, C.
Right arrow Articles by Murray, R.

The British Journal of Psychiatry 173: 527-530 (1998)
© 1998 The Royal College of Psychiatrists

Family history as a predictor of poor long-term outcome in depression

C Duggan, P Sham, C Minne, A Lee and R Murray
East Midlands Centre for Forensic Mental Health, Arnold Lodge, Leicester.

BACKGROUND: We investigated whether family history had prognostic significance in depression in a study which addressed some of the methodological shortcomings of previous studies. METHOD: We collected family history data on a consecutive series of 89 patients admitted with RDC major depression, blind to the outcome of the proband. This comprised 116, 283 and 120 first-degree relatives examined with the SADS-L, FH-RDC and case note data, respectively. The outcome of 74 of these probands (83%), previously categorised into four operationally defined groups, was then examined. RESULTS: A positive family history of severe psychiatric illness (i.e. a relative with a history of either a psychosis, hospitalised depression or suicide) was associated with poor outcome in the proband. This association persisted after controlling for variable family size, age structure and gender. As family history was correlated with neither Kendell's neurotic/psychotic index nor the proband's neuroticism score, an individual with high scores an all three would have a greatly increased chance of having a poor outcome. CONCLUSIONS: A family history of severe psychiatric illness in a first-degree relative may be useful as one of the vulnerability factors for predicting poor long-term outcome in depression.


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 BMJHome page
S. Davies, P. C Naik, and A. S Lee
Depression, suicide, and the national service framework
BMJ, June 23, 2001; 322(7301): 1500 - 1501.
[Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Br. J. PsychiatryHome page
B. HOCHSTRASSER, P.M. ISAKSEN, H. KOPONEN, L. LAURITZEN, F.A. MAHNERT, F. ROUILLON, A.G. WADE, M. ANDERSEN, S.F. PEDERSEN, J.C.G. D. SWART, et al.
Prophylactic effect of citalopram in unipolar, recurrent depression: Placebo-controlled study of maintenance therapy
The British Journal of Psychiatry, April 1, 2001; 178(4): 304 - 310.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 JWatch PsychiatryHome page
Family History Predicts Poor Psychiatric Outcome
Journal Watch Psychiatry, March 1, 1999; 1999(301): 4 - 4.
[Full Text]


HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Psychiatric Bulletin Advances in Psychiatric Treatment All RCPsych Journals
Copyright © 1998 The Royal College of Psychiatrists.