Quantile Regression Analysis of Depression and Clinical Symptom Degree in Chinese Patients with Spinocerebellar Ataxia Type 3

Spinal cerebellar ataxia type 3 is a common SCA subtype in the world. It is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by ataxia. Patients exhibit common neuropsychological symptoms such as depression and anxiety. Some patients have suicidal tendencies when they are severely depressed. So, it is very important to study the severity of depression and clinical symptoms (SARA), to find out the patient’s psychological state in time and to help patients actively respond to treatment. A total of 97 Chinese SCA3 patients were enrolled in the study. The Beck Depression Scale was used to investigate the prevalence of depression in the confirmed patients. The distribution of depression data in these patients was investigated. Then, the quantifier was used to model the depression status of Chinese SCA3 patients. An analysis was conducted to identify the key factors affecting depression under different quantiles. Studies have shown that SARA and gender are important factors affecting depression; the effect of initial SARA is small, then the degree of influence increases, and the degree of influence decreases in the later period, but it is always positively correlated with depression; the development of women’s SARA is gentler than that of men, and the degree of depression is lower than that of men