Late-life atypical major depressive episode: a 358-case study in outpatients

The author compared the prevalence and symptoms of DSM-IV major depressive episode (MDE) with atypical features between older and younger MDE outpatients (N = 358). Atypical MDE was present in 55.0% of MDE patients under age 60 and in 28.1% age 60 and over (P = 0.0000). Bipolar II disorder was present in 56.4% of younger patients, and in 23.9% of late-life patients (P = 0.0000). Late-life atypical MDE patients had less interpersonal-rejection sensitivity. Prevalence of atypical MDE seems lower among late-life MDE outpatients than among younger MDE outpatients, which may be related to the decrease with aging in the prevalence of patients with bipolar II MDE, where there is a higher prevalence of atypical features.