Gender differences in outpatient research subjects with affective disorders: A comparison of descriptive variables

Background: Gender may play an important role in the etiopathophysiology of psychiatric illness and has become a subject of increasing interest because of its possible effects on biological markers, treatment outcome, and prognosis. Intrigued by this issue and as part of our attempt to further characterize research subjects in San Diego, we evaluated male and female research subjects from our affective disorders clinical research center on a variety of measures. Based on epidemiologic data, we postulated that female and male subjects would be similar to epidemiologic samples and would differ in terms of comorbid diagnoses and that female subjects would be more likely to have had a history of previous treatment. Method: The demographic characteristics; coffee, tobacco, and alcohol consumption patterns; symptom patterns; and current and lifetime comorbid DSM-III-R Axis I diagnoses of 124 female and 69 male outpatient research subjects were contrasted. Results: Female research subjects had more comorbid problems with anxiety disorders, were more likely to have been previously treated, and were more likely to have a family history of psychiatric illness. Conclusion: Male and female research subjects were remarkably similar with respect to most characteristics assessed but, as postulated, differed in terms of their comorbid diagnoses and prior treatment history.