Objective: Distinct clinical entities, with and without delusions, have been reported for depressed patients. This study explores the clinical and phenomenological aspects of delusional and non-delusional major depression in elderly Chinese patients.
Methods: A total of 156 depressed patients (105 males and 51 females) admitted to our geriatric psychiatry ward were investigated. Sociodemographic and clinical characteristics were compared between patients divided into two groups-according to presence or absence of delusions.
Results: On admission, higher risk of suicide attempt, higher chance of guilt feelings, and greater daily functional impairment were observed for the deluded group. Further, the score of Hamilton Depression Rating Scale was higher and the score of Mini-Mental State Examination was lower for delusional depressives.
Conclusion: Our findings were grossly concordant with previous Western reports, and highlight the importance of identifying the delusional subgroup of depressive patients because of the higher risk of suicide attempt.
Copyright 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.