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Actigraphically assessed activity in unipolar depression: a comparison of inpatients with and without motor
Karoline Krane-Gartiser1, Tone E G Henriksen, Arne E Vaaler
1Department of Neuroscience, the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), PO Box 3008 Lade, N-7441 Trondheim, Norway karoline.krane-gartiser@ntnu.no.
Insights
Depressed inpatients without motor retardation show distinct activity patterns compared to those with it. Their findings resemble mania, suggesting different underlying mechanisms in unipolar depression.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Psychiatry
- Chronobiology
Background:
- Unipolar depression is characterized by altered motor activity.
- Motor retardation is a key symptom in some depression patients.
- Actigraphy offers objective measures of activity patterns.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare activity patterns in unipolar depression inpatients with and without motor retardation using actigraphy.
- To differentiate activity profiles between patient subgroups and healthy controls.
Main Methods:
- Actigraphy recordings (24-hour, daytime, specific activity periods) from 52 depressed inpatients and 28 controls.
- Patients categorized into groups with (n=25) and without (n=27) motor retardation.
- Analysis of mean activity, variability (SD, RMSSD), and complexity.
Main Results:
- Patients with motor retardation exhibited reduced mean activity and higher variability (SD, RMSSD) than those without.
- Both depressed groups showed lower mean activity and higher variability than controls.
- Depression patients without motor retardation had increased activity complexity in the morning.
Conclusions:
- Distinct activity patterns exist between depressed inpatients with and without motor retardation.
- Activity patterns in depressed patients without motor retardation may resemble those seen in mania.
Objective:
To compare the activity patterns of inpatients with unipolar depression, who had been divided into groups with and without motor retardation prior to actigraphy monitoring.
Method:
Twenty-four-hour actigraphy recordings from 52 consecutively, acutely admitted inpatients with unipolar depression (ICD-10) were compared to recordings from 28 healthy controls. The patients, admitted between September 2011 and April 2012, were separated into 2 groups: 25 with motor retardation and 27 without motor retardation. Twenty-eight healthy controls were also included. Twenty-four-hour recordings, 9-hour daytime sequences, and 64-minute periods of continuous motor activity in the morning and evening were analyzed for mean activity, variability, and complexity.
Results:
Patients with motor retardation had a reduced mean activity level (P = .04) and higher intraindividual variability, as shown by increased standard deviation (SD) (P = .003) and root mean square successive difference (RMSSD) (P = .025), during 24 hours compared to the patients without motor retardation. Both patient groups demonstrated significantly lower mean activity compared to healthy controls (P < .001) as well as higher SD (P < .02) and RMSSD (P < .001) and a higher RMSSD/SD ratio (P = .04). In the active morning period, the patients without motor retardation displayed significantly increased complexity compared to motor-retarded patients (P = .006).
Conclusions:
The patients with and without motor retardation differ in activity patterns. Findings in depressed inpatients without motor retardation closely resemble those of inpatients with mania.
