20. Darko et al. (A-33) evaluated the utility of mitogen-induced lymphocyte proliferation assays in clinical research in psychoimmunology. Study respondents were patients with a diagnosis of major depressive disorder who met other study criteria and medically and psychiatrically healthy comparison subjects. Among the data collected were scores on the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) by two groups of subjects. Group A patients fit the hypothesis of lessened immune response in depression and group B patients responded better than their matched comparison subjects. The BPRS depression subscales scores by subjects in the two groups were as follows:

Group A Group B 12 17 13 14 12 19 12 15 9 8 7 19 8 12 5 20 10 9 13 10 15 12 11 7

SOURCE: Denis F. Darko, M. D.

Used with permission.

May we conclude on the basis of these data that, in general, group B patients, on the average, score higher on the BPRS depression subscale? Let a = .05.