Affective temperaments: Effects on treatment response for major depression

There is growing interest in assessing affective temperaments in relation to major depressive disorder (MDD) and bipolar disorder (BD). Needed is evaluation of the impact of temperament ratings on responses to treatment of depression in these disorders. We measured treatment response as %-improvement in HDRS₂₁ depression ratings and correlated this measure as well as response rate (≥50 % improvement) with TEMPS-A ratings of anxious, cyclothymic, dysthymic, hyperthymic, and irritable affective temperaments in 2264 mood-disorder patients (1165 BD, 1099 MDD; 62.3 % women, mean age 48.5 years). Higher dysthymic temperament score was associated with less improvement in depression ratings, greater hyperthymia scores with increased improvement. Both temperaments also were associated with increases (dysthymia) or decreases (hyperthymia) in initial HDRS₂₁ scores. However, higher initial HDRS₂₁ scores led to greater percent-improvement. Multivariable logistic regression sustained independent effects of temperament scores on treatment-response. Reported effects were similar with MDD and BD. Limitations include the observational design limiting causality and uncertain generalizability to other geographical locations or clinical settings. Ratings of dysthymic and hyperthymic temperaments, respectively, were associated with significantly lesser and greater improvement of depression ratings with both MDD and BD.