The Identification and Validation of Distinct Depressive Syndromes in a Population-Based Sample of Female Twins

Background:

Depression, a clinically heterogeneous syndrome, may also be etiologically heterogeneous. Using a prospective, epidemiologic, and genetically informative sample of adult female twins, we identify and validate a typology of depressive syndromes.

Methods:

Latent class analysis was applied to 14 disaggregatedDSM-III-Rsymptoms for major depression reported over the last year by members of 1029 female-female twin...