The association between stressfull lifeevents and onset of major depression has been verified in various studies, but more dubious are results concerning the association between life events and treatment outcome.

This study is part of a multicenter investigation evaluating genetic and psychosocial factors influence on outcome after pharmacological treatment of depression.

All cases of admittance or outpatient contact to a psychiatric department in Denmark are covered by the Danish Psychiatric Central Research Register. In this study we obtain personal data on all patients in a defined region of Denmark (Zealand) recently discharged with an ICD-10 diagnosis of a single depressive episode. These patients are invited to an interview including structural interviews and questionnaires to evaluate the presence of previous or recent life events (IRLE), personality traits (EPQ) or disorders (SCID), a family history of affective disorder, and the outcome of pharmacological treatment of their depression (TRAQ). The clinical diagnosis of depression is confirmed by the SCAN semistructural interview. The study is scheduled to include approximately 400 patients.

Data collection continues until january 2008 and statistical evaluation will be completed subsequently. Results are ready for presentation in April 2008.

Compared with a prospective randomized study the drawback of the present study may be less validity of response to antidepressive treatment, on the other hand the present design enables an investigation of a large and representative sample of patients to reveal the influence of life events on the outcome of pharmacological treatment of depression.