Kok-Yoon Chee1, Adarsh Tripathi2, Ajit Avasthi3, Mian-Yoon Chong4, Yu-Tao Xiang5, Kang Sim6, Tian-Mei Si7, Shigenobu Kanba8, Yan-Ling He9, Min-Soo Lee10, Helen Fung-Kum Chiu11, Shu-Yu Yang12, Hironori Kuga8, Pichet Udormatn13, Roy A Kallivayalil14, Andi J Tanra15, Margarita Maramis16, Sandeep Grover3, Loi-Fei Chin17, Rahima Dahlan18, Mohd Fadzli Mohamad Isa19, Esther Gunaseli M Ebenezer20, Norhayati Nordin21, Winston W Shen22, Naotaka Shinfuku23, Chay-Hoon Tan24, Norman Sartorius25. 1. Department of Psychiatry & Mental Health, Kuala Lumpur Hospital, Kuala Lumpur, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 2. Department of Psychiatry, King George's Medical University, Chowk, Lucknow, India. 3. Department of Psychiatry, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, India. 4. Department of Psychiatry, Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital-Kaohsiung Medical Center and School of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taiwan. 5. Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Macau, Macao SAR, China. 6. Institute of Mental Health, Buangkok View, Buangkok Green Medical Park, Singapore. 7. Department of Psychiatry, Peking University Institute of Mental Health, Beijing, China. 8. Department of Neuropsychiatry, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan. 9. Department of Psychiatric Epidemiology, Shanghai Mental Health Center, Shanghai, China. 10. Department of Psychiatry, College of Medicine, Korea University, Seoul, Korea. 11. Department of Psychiatry, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China. 12. Department of Pharmacy, Taipei City Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan. 13. Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Prince of Songkla University, Songkhla, Thailand. 14. Department of Psychiatry, Pushpagiri Medical College, Thiruvalla, India. 15. Department of Psychiatry, Hasanuddin University Faculty of Medicine, Makassar, Sulawesi Selatan, Indonesia. 16. Dr. Soetomo Hospital - Faculty of Medicine, Airlangga University, Jawa Timur, Indonesia. 17. Department of Psychiatry & Mental Health, Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital, Selangor, Malaysia. 18. Department of Psychiatry & Mental Health, Kajang Hospital, Selangor, Malaysia. 19. Department of Psychiatry & Mental Health, Sultan Abdul Halim Hospital, Kedah, Malaysia. 20. Department of Psychiatry, Universiti Kuala Lumpur Royal College of Medicine, Perak, Malaysia. 21. Mesra Hospital, Sabah, Malaysia. 22. Departments of Psychiatry, TMU-Wan Fang Medical Center and School of Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taiwan. 23. Department of Psychiatry, Kobe University, Kobe, Japan. 24. Department of Pharmacology, National University of Singapore, Singapore. 25. Association for the Improvement of Mental Health Programmes, Geneva, Switzerland.
Abstract
INTRODUCTION: This study was to assess differences in the symptom profile of depressive illness across various countries/territories in Asia. The study was a part of the Research on Asia Psychotropic Prescription project. The participating countries/territories include China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, and Thailand. METHODS: The pattern of depressive symptoms in 1,400 subjects with depressive disorder from 42 psychiatric centers in 10 Asian countries/territories was assessed. We collected information on socio-demographic and clinical characteristics with a standardized protocol and data collection procedure. RESULTS: The most common presentations of depressive symptoms were persistent sadness, loss of interest, and insomnia. Similar findings were found regardless of the region, country, or its income level. Patients with depressive disorder from high-income countries presented significantly more with vegetative symptom cluster (P < 0.05), while those from the upper middle-income countries had significantly more with both mood (P < 0.001) and cognitive symptom clusters (P < 0.01). In lower middle-income countries, patients with depressive symptoms had significantly less mood symptom cluster (P < 0.001) but significantly more cognitive symptom cluster (P < 0.05). DISCUSSION: This study demonstrates that in Asia, despite variations in the initial symptom reported by the patients, across different countries/territories, core depressive symptoms remain the same. Variations have been found in presentation of depressive symptoms with regards to the level of income of countries. Physical or vegetative symptoms were reported more by centers in higher income countries, while depressive cognition and suicidal thoughts/acts were more frequently reported from lower income countries.
INTRODUCTION: This study was to assess differences in the symptom profile of depressive illness across various countries/territories in Asia. The study was a part of the Research on Asia Psychotropic Prescription project. The participating countries/territories include China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, and Thailand. METHODS: The pattern of depressive symptoms in 1,400 subjects with depressive disorder from 42 psychiatric centers in 10 Asian countries/territories was assessed. We collected information on socio-demographic and clinical characteristics with a standardized protocol and data collection procedure. RESULTS: The most common presentations of depressive symptoms were persistent sadness, loss of interest, and insomnia. Similar findings were found regardless of the region, country, or its income level. Patients with depressive disorder from high-income countries presented significantly more with vegetative symptom cluster (P < 0.05), while those from the upper middle-income countries had significantly more with both mood (P < 0.001) and cognitive symptom clusters (P < 0.01). In lower middle-income countries, patients with depressive symptoms had significantly less mood symptom cluster (P < 0.001) but significantly more cognitive symptom cluster (P < 0.05). DISCUSSION: This study demonstrates that in Asia, despite variations in the initial symptom reported by the patients, across different countries/territories, core depressive symptoms remain the same. Variations have been found in presentation of depressive symptoms with regards to the level of income of countries. Physical or vegetative symptoms were reported more by centers in higher income countries, while depressive cognition and suicidal thoughts/acts were more frequently reported from lower income countries.
Authors: Anise M S Wu; Mark H C Lai; Mengxuan Zhang; Masao Yogo; Shu M Yu; Sijie Mao; Juliet Honglei Chen Journal: Int J Environ Res Public Health Date: 2022-03-03 Impact factor: 3.390