Research into an Association between Anhedonia and Decreased REM Latency in Moderately to Severely Depressed Patients

Abstract

Anhedonia stands as a core symptom and potential trait marker of major depressive disorder (MDD). The importance of rapid eye movement sleep latency (REML) as a biological marker of depression has previously and repeatedly been studied. The aim of this paper is to analyse the relationship between anhedonia and REML in moderately to severely depressed patients. The shortened Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-13) was chosen to assess depressive symptoms and, among them, more particularly, anhedonic symptoms. Two-way ANCOVA was used for statistical analyses. A significant association between anhedonic symptoms and REML was found when the number of sleep cycles (NCy) and the severity of depression were added as covariates. Our findings suggest that REML may be a useful variable to differentiate some diagnostic subtypes of depression related to anhedonia.

Using the Beck Depression Inventory to Assess Anhedonia: A Scale Validation Study

“…Two studies have used a different 3-item scale that includes Items 4, 12, and 15, and not Item 21 (Loas et al, 2018;Nizet et al, 2018). 2.…”

“… 1. A few studies have used a 2-item scale (Gabbay et al, 2013; Gabbay, Ely, et al, 2012; Gabbay, Mao, et al, 2012; Henderson et al, 2013; Loas et al, 2009; Yaseen et al, 2016), a 5-item scale (Dunn et al, 2009), or do not report the number of items in the BDI-derived anhedonia scale used (Dekeuleneer et al, 2021; Satterthwaite et al, 2015). Two studies have used a different 3-item scale that includes Items 4, 12, and 15, and not Item 21 (Loas et al, 2018; Nizet et al, 2018). …”

“…A 4-item version from the BDI-II was proposed by Pizzagalli et al (2005) , who added Item 15 (effort/energy) to the 3-item measure and reported an alpha of .60 for the 4-item measure. Since these measures were proposed, nearly 20 studies have used the 3-item measure ( Ballard et al, 2017 ; Carbajal et al, 2017 ; Crits-Christoph et al, 2018 ; Fan et al, 2021 ; Hasler et al, 2010 ; Kashdan et al, 2006 , 2007 ; Leventhal et al, 2006 ; Loas et al, 2016 , 2018 , 2019 ; Martínez-Vispo et al, 2020 ; Nizet et al, 2018 ; Peechatka et al, 2015 ; Pushkarskaya et al, 2019 ; Santopetro, Brush, Bruchnak, et al, 2021 ; Santopetro, Brush, Burani, et al, 2021 ; Steer, 2011 ; Yan et al, 2011 ), and at least 16 others have used the 4-item measure ( Barr et al, 2008 ; Blain et al, 2021 ; Bogdan & Pizzagalli, 2006 ; Carl et al, 2016 ; Crowther et al, 2015 ; Lopez-Gamundi & Wardle, 2018 ; Pizzagalli et al, 2005 , 2008 , 2009 ; Solibieda et al, 2021 ; Treadway et al, 2009 ; Walsh et al, 2017 , 2019 ; Winer et al, 2014 ; Yang et al, 2020 ). 1 , 2…”