METHODS

Data from three published reports (6,12,15) were retabulated to allow a direct comparison of the studies. Since Crowe et al. (6) and Noyes et al. (15) reported rates of secondary depression among relatives, it was possible to retabulate their data so that frequencies of diagnoses were obtained. These frequencies could then be compared to the results reported by Leckman et al. (12). For this chapter, the data presented in Crowe et al. (6) and Noyes et al. (15) were retabulated to obtain rates of the following diagnoses: major depressive disorder (MDD), panic disorder and/or generalized anxiety disorder (PD/GAD), and any anxiety disorder that included PD/GAD. The retabulation was accomplished by simply summing the rates for primary diagnoses and all secondary diagnoses for a specific mental disorder. For instance, the rate of MDD is equal to the rate of primary MDD plus all rates of secondary MDD. The data from the Leckman et al. study were retabulated to obtain similar diagnostic groupings for relatives of probands with MDD alone (MDD) and for relatives of probands with MDD and PD (MDD + PD). In addition, because the data from the Crowe et al. and Noyes et al. studies included families of probands with chronologically primary panic disorder or agoraphobia regardless of whether they had secondary depression, we combined the families from the Leckman et al. study in which the probands had major depression without anxiety and the families where the proband had primary major depression and secondary panic disorder. This combination allowed a comparison of rates of diagnoses among relatives of probands with primary major depression with and without panic disorder (MDD ± PD), primary panic disorder with and without major depression (PD ± MDD), and primary ago­raphobia with panic attacks with and without depression (Ag/PD ± MDD). Since some forms of MDD are familial, this retabulation of the Leckman et al. data could introduce a bias. For instance, if the rate of MDD is not elevated in the relatives of probands with PD or agoraphobia alone, then the rate of MDD among relatives in the MDD ± PD families should be higher than the rate of MDD among relatives in the PD ± MDD families. A more appropriate com­parison would be to contrast the rates of illness among the relatives of probands with chronologically primary MDD and secondary PD (MDD + PD) with the rates of illness among the relatives of probands with chronologically primary PD with secondary MDD (PD + MDD). Although the data for the MDD + PD probands were reported by Leckman and co-workers, it was not possible to extract the data for PD + MDD from the published reports of Crowe and Noyes. or this report, the control relatives collected by Leckman et al. were chosen for comparison because the probands were persons with no history of psychiatric illness. The control samples reported by Crowe et al. and Noyes et al. included probands with MDD.

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