Past Issues

Objectives: Cognitive dysfunction can remarkably contribute to long-term functional disability in major depressive disorder (MDD). In this study, we intended to assess and to describe cognitive dysfunction of the Taiwanese MDD patients of the Cognitive Dysfunction in Asian patients with Depression (Cog- DAD). Methods: This is a subgroup analysis of 226 Taiwanese patients recruited from National Cheng Kung University Hospital, Tainan, Taiwan of the multi-center, cross-sectional CogDAD study. Results of the CogDAD study primary analyses are reported elsewhere (Srisurapanont et al, 2017). The present subgroup analysis assessed and described depression severity, cognitive dysfunction, and functional disability in the Taiwanese population. Results: Compared to the overall CogDAD study population, Taiwanese patients were about fi ve years older (50.8 ± 10.8 vs. 46.5 ± 12.5 years) and had a longer duration of current depressive episode (96% vs. 82.2%) and reported a depressive episode of more than eight weeks in duration, with a higher proportion who were already being treated before the study visit (92.5% vs. 86.7%) and were maintained on treatment (79.2% vs. 74.8%). Accordingly, Taiwanese patients had lower severity of depression (10.04 ± 6.95 vs. 11.27 ± 6.92 in scores of Patient Health Questionnaire 9-item) and reported less severe perceived cognitive dysfunction (16.27 ± 15.23 vs. 22.59 ± 16.16 in scores of Perceived Defi cit Questionnaire-Depression). Taiwanese patients showed less severe functional disability and fewer days lost (absenteeism), but their number of unproductive days (presenteeism) was similar to that in the overall CogDAD study population. After controlling for depression severity, functional disability at work/school was signifi cantly independently associated with cognitive dysfunction (p < 0.05) and history of hospitalization (p < 0.01). Conclusion: This study refl ects the importance of treating Taiwanese MDD patients with the aim of improving cognitive dysfunction and patient functioning.