Age
Age has been found very frequently to be an important predictor of treatment success in MDD6,18,19,23,24,29,33, with most studies suggesting that older age could predict lack of response – but not necessarily lack of remission24. In addition, some clinical guidelines22 suggest a careful look into the age of a patient before prescribing specific antidepressants, such as SSRIs, because of specific age-related side effects (e.g., association of increased rate of bone loss in the hip in older female patients with the use of SSRIs).
Employment
Several meta-analyses, reviews and peer-reviewed decision models have found employment to be an important factor in predicting depression status and medication response18,19,23,24,29,34. It is generally the case that for specific treatments, a “better” employment status (e.g., being employed vs. being unemployed) is correlated with better treatment response, which is believed to be mediated via less stressful living conditions of the patient32.
Insurance Ownership
Numerous studies have found insurance ownership as an important factor in prediction of treatment success in depression35,36,37. It is generally the case that for specific treatments, a “better” insurance ownership status (e.g., having private health insurance) is correlated with better treatment response and/or treatment adherence.
Sex
While some studies found sex and/or gender to be important factors in determining treatment success19,24,29, many studies do not find these components to have a predictive role6. Despite this inconsistency, sex has been established as an important factor in predicting sex-specific side effects of some antidepressants (e.g., trazodone and its association with the risk of priapism22).
Panic disorder with agoraphobia has been established as a common co-morbidity of depressive disorders1,2. Although not too common, several studies have examined the relationship of agoraphobia with depression treatment’s outcome, showing somewhat contrasting results: some showed higher agoraphobia associated with bigger change in depression score during treatment3, while others identified increased rates of agoraphobia in baseline with lower rates of remission4 and response 5 in depression treatment.