Objective To understand the demographic characters

the pattern in the incidence and solar terms

and the rule of medication with traditional Chinese medicine and western medicine in patients with depressive disorder

in order to provide reasonable treatments in clinic and to bring thoughts and guidance to prospective studies.Methods Hospitalization data from December 22 nd

2003 to Auguest 12 th

2011 were collected from hospital information systems（ HIS） in 19 Class A Tertiary General Hospitals nationwide. Frequency statistical analysis was performed on information like gender

age

admission

mode of payment

hospitalized department

days of hospitalization

hospitalization expenses

medication

etc. of patients whose discharge diagnosis described as ‘depressive disorder’. The pattern in the incidence and solar terms was studied. Results Totally 1 808 cases of depressive disorders were collected

with 650 males（ 43. 13%）

857 females（ 56. 87%） and 301 without gender records. Median age of the patients was 56

and most of cases（ 908

82. 17%） were among age 18 to 74; Most of those patients（ 751

41. 54%） were hospitalized in the department of neurology; and most of cases（ 1 596

88. 27%） stayed in hospitals less than 28 days. 105 cases（ 6. 68%） were admitted to hospital during the slight cold in 24 solar terms

and 93 patients（ 5. 95%） were hospitalized during cold dew. The most prescribed antidepressant agent was flupentixol and melitracen tablet（ 20. 95%）; and the most used traditional Chinese patent medicine was ginkgo biloba extract（ 27. 91%）. Conclusion There are more females than males in patients with depressive disorder. Hospitalization days increase with age. The onset peak of depressive disorder are the slight cold and cold dew in 24 solar terms. Flupentixol and melitracen has the highest usage frequency in antidepressant

while ginkgo biloba extract is the most prescribed traditional Chinese patent medicine.