Gender differences in major depressive disorder in a Hungarian community survey

The aim of this study was to investigate the characteristics of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) in males and females in a sample of the Hungarian adult population.

2953 randomly selected subjects between 18 and 64 years old were interviewed using the Hungarian version of the Diagnostic Interview Schedule (DIS), which generated DSM-III-R diagnoses.

The lifetime and period prevalences of MDD were more than twice as high in women than in men. The gender difference appeared in early adolescence and continued up until the age of 50. An increased risk for anxiety disorders was found in patients with MDD, irrespective of gender, and in the majority of cases (65%) the anxiety symptoms preceded the onset of MDD. Depressed women tended to have more symptoms and a more marked tendency for recurrence than men. The preponderance of females was twice as high in MDD with comorbid anxiety than in MDD without it, in spite of the fact that the likelihood of the coexistence of MDD and anxiety disorders did not differ by gender.

The higher MDD prevalence rate in women might be the consequence of a higher rate of pre-existing anxiety disorder(s).