Does major depressive disorder with somatic delusions constitute a distinct subtype of major depressive disorder with psychotic features?

Background: Among patients with major depression with psychotic features, little is known about the extent to which those with and without somatic delusions differ. Methods: The first 183 participants in the STOP-PD study were divided into two groups based on the presence or absence of somatic delusions and were compared on multiple demographic and clinical characteristics. Results: In the multivariate analysis, those with somatic delusions reported more somatic symptoms, rated their health as worse, and were less likely to have persecutory delusions. Conclusions: Based on the methods we used, we could not detect meaningful differences between subjects with and without somatic delusions. This suggests that the presence of irrational somatic ideation does not define a distinct clinical subgroup among patients with psychotic depression. This finding needs to be replicated. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.