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Objective: We examined the prevalence and clinical characteristics of patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) without depressed mood, using data from the Clinical Research Center for Depression (CRESCEND) study in South Korea.
Methods: Using analysis of covariance for continuous variables and binary logistic regression analysis for discrete variables, the clinical characteristics of MDD patients with and without depressed mood were compared after controlling for the potential effects of gender. To represent the extent of group differences, we computed Cohen’s d statistics.
Results: Of 1009 MDD patients, only 2.2% were without depressed mood. Compared with those with depressed mood, these patients were characterized by a significantly lower rate of current suicidal ideation (adjust odds ratio = 5.258, p = .003; d = 0.193), fewer depressive symptom profiles (F = 8.731, p = .003; d = −0.543) and lower severity scores for overall depression (F = 16.027, p < .0001; d = −0.853), core depressive symptoms (F = 14.233, p < .0001; d = −0.810), insomnia (F = 6.967, p = .008; d = −0.579), anxiety (F = 14.235, p < .0001; d = −0.810), and suicidal ideation (F = 9.034, p = .003; d = 0.531), as well as a higher level of social functioning (F = 6.862, p = .009; d = 0.531).
Conclusions: MDD without depressed mood is associated with a lower illness burden than MDD with depressed mood, and may have the distinctive clinical characteristics of MDD.