Relationship between interpersonal problem areas and depressive disorders in Thai depressed patients : a matched case-control study

Abstract

Objectives: To identify the interpersonal problem areas related to depressive disorders in Thai depressed patients. Four interpersonal problem areas include grief, interpersonal role disputes, role transitions, and interpersonal deficits. Setting: King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital Design: Analytic, matched case-control study 1:1 Subjects and method: The 90 pairs (matched by gender and age) of the depressed and the non-depressed subjects, age above 18 years old, from the Department of Psychiatry, King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital, were recruited into the study during July – December 2007. The inclusion criteria for the depressed subjects were new cases of depression (within 6 months) and scores of at least 8 points of Thai Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (Thai HRSD); the non-depressed subjects: the scores of less than 8 points of Thai HRSD. All subjects completed two questionnaires; 1) Demographic data form, and 2) Thai Interpersonal Questionnaire. The association between interpersonal problem areas and depressive disorders were analyzed by McNemar’s chi-square test. A p-value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. The strength of association was reported by using odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence interval (95%CI). Conditional logistic regression was performed to identify the predictors of depressive disorders. Results: Most of subjects were young and middle-aged female, living in Bangkok and central region. All four interpersonal problem areas were associated with depressive disorders (p<0.01) in the following strength of association: grief (OR = 7.25, 95%CI = 2.55-28.38), interpersonal role disputes (OR = 4.30, 95%CI = 2.13-9.60), role transitions (OR = 15.00, 95%CI = 5.56-56.84), and interpersonal deficits (OR = 9.00, 95%CI = 3.58-29.05). All four interpersonal problem areas were predictors of depressive disorders in Thai depressed patients (p<0.05). Conclusion: All four interpersonal problem areas were associated with depressive disorders in Thai depressed patients.