“Onset of Depression Inventory”—comparison between the data of depressed patients and their relatives

Abstract

Background. The “Onset of Depression Inventory” (ODI) represents a patient interview which aims to register the speed of onset of depression systematically. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the patient-relative agreement regarding the speed of onset of depression in the patients. Methods. The ODI was investigated in 31 patients with a depressive episode. Moreover, 31 patients’ relatives participated in an interview for which a modified version of the ODI (for relatives of depressed patients; ODI-A) was applied. Results. There was a significant association between patients’ estimation of the speed of onset of the depressive episode and relatives’ estimation of this parameter in the case of patients and relatives living in a common household (rho = 0.68; p = 0.006). Conclusions. There was an agreement between patients and their relatives regarding the speed of onset of the current depressive episodes, however only if they lived in a common household.

Key words::

• Speed of onset
• depressive episode
• interrater agreement
• relatives
• reliability

Acknowledgements

None.

Statement of interest

Maria Strauss is a speaker for Lilly Germany GmbH. Roland Mergl receives fees for consultancy activities from Takeda, outside of the submitted work. Ulrich Hegerl is an advisory board member for Eli Lilly & Company, and Takeda and Lundbeck; and a speaker for Bristol-Myers Squibb. All other authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.