Sex Differences in Depression in Patients with Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a demyelinating disorder of the central nervous system. Approximately 50% of MS patients experience clinical depression at some point during their lifetime, a rate that far exceeds what is found in the general population. This study examined sex differences in depression in 80 female and 17 male MS patients. The following four inventories for measuring depression were used: The Beck Depression Inventory-2 (BDI-2), Beck Depression InventoryFast Screen (BDI-Fast Screen), Depression Proneness Rating Scale (DPRS), and the Chicago Multiscale Depression Inventory (CMDI). A statistical trend (p < .10) was found for male patients to show greater depression proneness than female patients. Males also showed significantly (p < .05) greater use of avoidance coping strategies compared with females. Because avoidance coping has been found to be maladaptive in MS patients and associated with depression, greater use of avoidance coping in males may underlie their differential proneness to depression.