Do Symptoms of Depression Predict Telomere Length? Evidence From the West of Scotland Twenty-07 Study.

Do Symptoms of Depression Predict Telomere Length? Evidence From the West of Scotland Twenty-07 Study.

Psychosom Med. 2013 Mar 19;
Phillips AC, Robertson T, Carroll D, Der G, Shiels PG, McGlynn L, Benzeval M

ObjectivePsychological factors such as the stress of caregiving are emerging as predictors of telomere length, an index of biological aging. However, although lifetime major depressive disorder is associated with shorter telomeres, less is known about depressive symptoms. Depression and depressive symptoms are associated with a range of morbidities and mortality, but the extent to which they predict biological aging is unclear. The present study examined participants in the West of Scotland Twenty-07 Study across three age cohorts and four waves of data collection from 1992/1993 to 2007/2008.MethodsParticipants were 37, 57, and 76 years old at final data collection. Depressive symptoms were measured using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale at each time point. Telomere length was assessed from 1063 blood samples collected at the final wave in 2007/2008 for respondents who also had depression data.ResultsAverage depression symptoms (?= -.12, p = .047) and their change over time (? = -.12, p = .031) were negatively associated with telomere length, but only in the youngest cohort. Depressive symptoms were not cross sectionally associated with telomere length in 2007 to 2008 (?= -.03, p = .45). In the youngest cohort only, depressive symptoms assessed in 1995 to 1997 and 2000 to 2004 were associated with shorter telomere length (? = .14 [p = .046] and ? = .18 [p = .012], respectively), but not 1992 to 1993 or 2007 to 2008; associations in the middle- and older-aged cohorts were nonsignificant.ConclusionsDepressive symptoms are longitudinally associated with shorter telomere length, but only in younger adults. HubMed – depression

 

Psychometric Properties of the CES-D-10 in a Psychiatric Sample.

Assessment. 2013 Mar 18;
Björgvinsson T, Kertz SJ, Bigda-Peyton JS, McCoy KL, Aderka IM

The 10-item Center for the Epidemiological Studies of Depression Short Form (CES-D-10) is a widely used measure to screen for depression in primary care settings. The 10-item measure has demonstrated strong psychometric properties, including predictive accuracy and high correlations with the original 20-item version, in community populations. However, clinical utility and psychometric properties have yet to be assessed in an acutely symptomatic psychiatric population. This study examined the psychometric properties of the CES-D-10 in a sample of 755 patients enrolled in a psychiatric partial hospital program. Participants completed a diagnostic interview and a battery of self-report measures on admission and discharge. Exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis suggested that a one-factor structure provided a good fit to the data. High item-total correlations indicated high internal consistency, and the CES-D-10 demonstrated both convergent validity and divergent validity. Previously suggested cutoff scores of 8 and 10 resulted in good sensitivity (.91 and .89, respectively) but poor specificity (.35 and .47). These data suggest that although the CES-D-10 has generally strong psychometric properties in this psychiatric sample, the measure should be primarily used to assess depression symptom severity rather than as a diagnostic screening tool. HubMed – depression

 

Psychometric Properties of the Chinese Version of the Revised Posttraumatic Growth Inventory for Children (PTGI-C-R).

Asia Pac J Public Health. 2013 Mar 19;
Lau JT, Yeung NC, Yu X, Zhang J, Mak WW, Lui WW, Zhang J

We investigated the psychometric properties of the modified 8-item Chinese version of the Revised Posttraumatic Growth Inventory for Children (PTGI-C-R) among 3256 adolescents in Chengdu, China, after the Sichuan Earthquake in 2008. The PTGI-C-R showed good reliability (Cronbach’s ? = .86; composite reliability = 0.87). A single factor was extracted by exploratory factor analysis and confirmed by confirmatory factor analysis in 2 randomly split half subsamples. Multigroup analyses showed that the single-factor structure was stable across gender groups and age groups (age <15 years and ?15 years). The PTGI-C-R was negatively correlated with depression (r = -0.21) and positively correlated with resilience, social support, and perceived importance of health, family, and friendship (r ranged from 0.34 to 0.40). Our findings support the idea that the PTGI-C-R is a reliable and valid measure of posttraumatic growth among Chinese adolescents having experienced a natural disaster. Validation of the scale in the context of other traumatic events is warranted. HubMed – depression

 


 

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