The Centrality of Depression and Anxiety Symptoms in Major Depressive Disorder Determined Using a Network Analysis

Background: Comorbid anxiety symptoms are highly prevalent and closely linked with poorer treatment outcomes, chronicity, and hospitalization in major depressive disorder (MDD). Our study aimed to estimate the network of depression and anxiety symptoms that was developed based on a sample of MDD patients.

Methods: We constructed a network of the 21 Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) symptoms and 21 Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) symptoms in 223 patients with MDD who were beginning psychiatric treatment. In addition, each of the depression and anxiety symptoms was considered to be an ordered categorical variable ranging in value from 0 to 3.

Results: The three depression symptoms including loss of energy, loss of interest, and worthlessness and the seven anxiety symptoms including faintness or lightheadedness, feeling of choking, feeling scared, fear of the worst happening, nervousness, inability to relax, and feeling shaky were identified as the ten most central nodes within a network of depression and anxiety symptoms. The inter-connection between irritability and nervousness was a strong trans-diagnostic edge within the network of depression and anxiety symptoms.

Limitations: Because our study was designed in a cross-sectional manner, the networks were estimated undirectionally.

Conclusions: Our findings show that depression symptoms are not more central than anxiety symptoms within an estimated network structure of symptoms in patients with MDD. Moreover, the inter-connection between irritability and nervousness may suggests a probable trans-diagnostic association in MDD symptomatology.