The role of major depression in neurocognitive functioning in patients with posttraumatic stress disorder

Figures & data

Table 1 Demographic and clinical characteristics of the PTSD+MDD and PTSD–MDD group

	PTSD+MDD (n=84)		PTSD–MDD (n=56)		Analysis
Characteristic	n	%	n	%	χ ^2	df	p
Female	50	59.5	29	51.8	0.82	1	0.37
Education					1.53	2	0.47
Low	19	22.6	12	21.4
Middle	43	51.2	24	42.9
High	22	26.2	20	35.7
Dutch	40	47.6	33	58.9	1.72	1	.19
Clinical features
Type of trauma					6.12a		.29
Assault	39	46.4	35	62.5
Sexual assault	11	13.1	5	8.9
Accident	20	23.8	6	10.7
Disaster	5	6.0	5	8.9
War-related	4	4.8	3	5.3
Other	5	6.0	2	3.5
Earlier traumatic experiences	48	57.1	28	50.0	0.52	1	0.47
Anxiety disorder other than PTSD (SCID-I)	13	15.5	9	16.1	0.01	1	0.92
Lifetime alcohol-related disorder (SCID-I)	3	3.6	1	1.8			0.65a
Lifetime substance-related disorder (SCID-I)	2	2.4	3	5.4			0.39a
On psychoactive medication	39	46.4	20	35.7	1.58	1	0.22
On SRRI	18	21.4	7	12.5	1.83	1	0.18
	Mean	S.D.	Mean	S.D.	t	df	p
Age	37.32	11.26	38.52	11.58	0.61	138	0.54
Time since trauma (months)	25.17	44.99	37.89	69.87	1.31	138	0.19
PTSD total score (IES-R)	81.98	16.61	68.07	19.75	4.48	137	<0.001
Depression severity score (HADS)	13.20	3.85	8.98	3.10	6.85	137	<0.001

SCID-I, Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Disorders; PTSD, posttraumatic stress disorder; MDD, major depressive disorder; SSRI, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor; IES-R, Impact of Event Scale–Revised; HADS, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale.

a Fisher's exact test.

Table 2 Means and standard deviations on neurocognitive measures for PTSD+MDD and PTSD–MDD groups

	PTSD+MDD (n=83)a		PTSD–MDD (n=56)
Measure	Mean	SD	Mean	SD
CVLTb
Sum of trials 1–5	47.3	10.8	52.5	9.6
Short-term free recall	10.5	3.0	11.5	3.0
Short-term cued recall	11.3	2.7	12.7	2.5
Long-term free recall	10.7	3.1	12.3	3.1
Long-term cued recall	11.6	2.8	12.8	2.8
Long-term recognition	41.3	3.0	41.5	3.3
RBMT
Immediate recall	15.2	6.0	17.3	5.9
Delayed recall	11.4	5.6	13.8	6.0
TMT
Trail A	37.5	23.1	34.0	13.2
Trail B	88.8	40.4	79.0	37.9
Stroop
Card 2	69.6	24.8	62.6	17.3
Card 3	115.8	66.2	95.1	28.7
Interference	46.3	45.6	33.2	18.4

PTSD, posttraumatic stress disorder; MDD, major depressive disorder; CVLT, California Verbal Learning Test; RBMT, Rivermead Behavioural Memory Test; TMT, Trail Making Test.

a One participant did not complete the neuropsychological assessment at baseline.

b A significant overall group difference was found for the CVLT, p=0.011, as well as group differences for CVLT sum of trials 1–5, p=0.004, CVLT short-term cued recall, p=0.005, CVLT long-term free recall, p=0.001, and CVLT long-term cued recall, p=0.006.