Sex differences in subjective cognitive impairment and clinical correlates in Chinese patients with subthreshold depression

OBJECTIVE: Subthreshold depression (SD) is a global mental health problem given its high prevalence, comorbidity, functional impairment, and its association with increased service utilization. However, currently little is known about sex differences of SD in cognitive impairment with clinical correlates. This study aims to explore sex differences in subjective cognitive impairment and clinically associated risk factors in Chinese patients with subthreshold depression (SD). METHODS: A total of 126 patients with SD, 40 males and 86 females, aged 18–45 years, were included in this cross-sectional observational study. Their general information, psychological assessments, and psychiatric symptom assessments were collected online. The Patient Health Questionnaire depression-9 (PHQ-9), Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7), Perceived Deficits Questionnaire-Depression (PDQ-D), and Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) with 3 subdomains were used. The obtained scores were analyzed with partial correlation and multiple linear regression analysis models. RESULTS: Our results showed that females had significantly higher PDQ-D-20 total score than males. However, the differences in TAS-20 and subdomain score according to sex were not significant. Notably, TAS-20 and DDF (difficulty describing feelings) subdomain contributed to cognitive impairment in males, whereas both PHQ-9 total score and TAS-20 or DDF subdomain contributed to cognitive impairment in females. CONCLUSION: These findings revealed significant sex differences in cognitive impairment and clinical correlates in SD, which should be further followed-up in the future. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13293-023-00488-w.