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Multicenter Study
. 2024 Dec 1;27(12):pyae055.
doi: 10.1093/ijnp/pyae055.

Anhedonia is associated with a specific depression profile and poor antidepressant response

Antonina Luca  1 , Maria Luca  2 , Siegfried Kasper  3   4 , Basilio Pecorino  1 , Joseph Zohar  5   6 , Daniel Souery  7 , Stuart Montgomery  8 , Panagiotis Ferentinos  9 , Dan Rujescu  3 , Antonino Messina  10 , Raffaella Zanardi  11   12 , Raffaele Ferri  13 , Mariangela Tripodi  13 , Bernhard T Baune  14   15   16 , Giuseppe Fanelli  17   18 , Chiara Fabbri  17 , Julien Mendlewicz  19 , Alessandro Serretti  1   13
Affiliations
Multicenter Study

Anhedonia is associated with a specific depression profile and poor antidepressant response

Antonina Luca et al. Int J Neuropsychopharmacol. .

Abstract

Background: Anhedonic features within major depressive disorder (MDD) have been associated with worse course and outcome and may predict nonresponse to treatment. However, a detailed clinical profile of anhedonia in MDD is still lacking.

Materials and methods: One thousand two hundred ninety-four patients with MDD were selected from the cross-sectional European multicenter Group for the Study of Resistant Depression study. Anhedonia was assessed through the Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale anhedonia item "inability to feel." Clinical and demographic features were then analyzed.

Results: The presence of anhedonia related to a distinct demographical (living alone) and clinical profile (thyroid diseases, diabetes, suicide risk, high number of previous depressive episodes, more severe MDD, and more frequent inpatient status). Furthermore, anhedonia was associated with nonresponse to treatment and treatment resistance, even after adjusting for confounding variables.

Conclusions: Our findings support the role of anhedonia as a modulating feature of MDD, being associated with a more severe depression profile. Moreover, anhedonic features are independent predictors of poor treatment response.

Keywords: anhedonia; antidepressants; major depression; treatment outcomes; treatment-resistant depression (TRD).

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Conflict of interest statement

Dr Rujescu served as a consultant for Janssen, received honoraria from Boehringer Ingelheim, Gerot-Lannacher, Janssen, and PharmaGenetix, received research/travel support from Angelini, Boehringer Ingelheim, Janssen, and Schwabe, and served on advisory boards of AC Immune, Boehringer Ingelheim, Roche, and Rovi. Dr Souery has received grant/research support from GlaxoSmithKline and Lundbeck; and he has served as a consultant or on advisory boards for AstraZeneca, Bristol Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly, Janssen, and Lundbeck. Dr Mendlewicz is a member of the board of the Lundbeck International Neuroscience Foundation and of the advisory board of Servier. Dr Zohar has received grant/research support from Lundbeck, Servier, and Pfizer; he has served as a consultant or on the advisory boards for Servier, Pfizer, Solvay, and Actelion; and he has served on speakers’ bureaus for Lundbeck, GlaxoSmithKline, Jazz, and Solvay. Dr Montgomery has served as a consultant or on advisory boards for AstraZeneca, BioNevia, Bristol Myers Squibb, Forest, GlaxoSmithKline, Grunenthal, Intellect Pharma, Johnson & Johnson, Lilly, Lundbeck, Merck, Merz, M’s Science, Neurim, Otsuka, Pierre Fabre, Pfizer, PharmaNeuroBoost, Richter, Roche, Sanofi, Sepracor, Servier, Shire, Synosis, Takeda, Theracos, Targacept, Transcept, UBC, Xytis, and Wyeth. Dr Serretti has served as a consultant or speaker for Abbott, AbbVie, Angelini, AstraZeneca, Clinical Data, Boehringer, Bristol Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly, GlaxoSmithKline, InnovaPharma, Italfarmaco, Janssen, Lundbeck, Naurex, Pfizer, Polifarma, Sanofi, Servier, and Taliaz. Dr Kasper has received grant/research support from Lundbeck; he has served as a consultant or on advisory boards for Angelini, Biogen, Esai, Janssen, IQVIA, Lundbeck, Mylan, Recordati, Sage and Schwabe; and he has served on speakers bureaus for Aspen Farmaceutica S.A., Angelini, Biogen, Janssen, Lundbeck, Neuraxpharm, Recordati, Sage, Sanofi, Schwabe, Servier and Sun Pharma. Dr Baune received honoraria for serving as a consultant or on advisory boards for Angelini, AstraZeneca, Biogen, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol-Meyers Squibb, Janssen, LivaNova, Lundbeck, Medscape, Neurotorium, Novartis, Otsuka, Pfizer, Recordati, Roche, Rovi, Sanofi, Servier, and Teva. The other authors declare no potential conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Percentage of nonresponders/TRD in anhedonic and nonanhedonic MDD, stratified by age and sex. Abbreviations: A_MDD, anhedonic major depression disorder; nA_MDD, non anhedonic major depression disorder; TRD, treatment-resistant depression; yrs, years.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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