Abstract
BACKGROUND: Rating scales used to assess the severity of depression e.g. the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale 17-item (HDRS-17) partly rely on the patient's subjective experience and reporting. Such subjective measures tend to have low reliability and adding objective measures to complement the assessment of depression severity would be a major step forward.
AIMS: To investigate correlations between electronic monitoring of psychomotor activity and severity of depression according to HDRS-17.
METHODS: A total of 36 patients with unipolar disorder (n = 18) or bipolar disorder (n = 18) and 31 healthy control persons aged 18-60 years were included. Psychomotor activity was measured using a combined heart rate and movement sensor device (Actiheart) for 3 consecutive days, 24 h a day.
RESULTS: We found that sleeping heart rate (beats/min) correlated with HDRS-17 in both patients with unipolar disorder and bipolar disorder (unadjusted model: B = 0.46, 95% CI 0.037-0.89, P = 0.034). In contrast, correlations between activity energy expenditure (kJ/kg/day), cardio-respiratory fitness (mlO2/min/kg) and HDRS-17 were non-significant.
CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that measuring sleeping heart rate in non-experimental daily life could be an objective supplementary method to measure the severity of depression and perhaps indicate presence of insomnia.
| Originalsprog | Engelsk |
|---|---|
| Tidsskrift | Nordic Journal of Psychiatry |
| Vol/bind | 69 |
| Udgave nummer | 2 |
| Sider (fra-til) | 118-125 |
| Antal sider | 8 |
| ISSN | 0803-9488 |
| DOI | |
| Status | Udgivet - 1 feb. 2015 |