Painful physical symptoms in hospitalized patients with acute depressive episode: results from a naturalistic study
Abstract
Backg round: Depressive symptoms in patients with chronic pain (organic or functional) are well recognized. However, studies on pain were mostly conducted in non-psychiatric settings, and there is a paucity of data on painful physical symptoms (PPS) in patients with depression, especially in acute depressive episode (ADE). The aim of the study was to find out the prevalence of PPS in patients with ADE and to compare sociodemographic and clinical variables in patients with and without PPS. Methods: 150 somatically healthy patients, hospitalized due to ADE were screened for PPS. Data on PPS location and severity, basic socio-demographic characteristics, illness severity, therapy, suicidality, and comorbid alcohol abuse were collected. Results: 71 % of patients with ADE reported at least one painful physical symptom. Headache was the most common complaint. Patients with PPS had more severe depressive symptoms, lower level of functioning, and were prescribed more analgesics. However, no differences in socio-demographic characteristics, antidepressant therapy, suicidality or alcohol dependence were found. Conclusions: The results show high prevalence of PPS in somatically healthy hospitalized pa-tients with ADE and partly concur with results from similar studies. The high use of analgesics in patients with depression and painful physical symptoms opens the issue of rational pharmacotherapy.Downloads
The Author transfers to the Publisher (Zdravniški vestnik/Slovenian Medical Journal) all economic copyrights following form Article 22 of the Slovene Copyright and Related Rights Act (ZASP), including the right of reproduction, the right of distribution, the rental right, the right of public performance, the right of public transmission, the right of public communication by means of phonograms and videograms, the right of public presentation, the right of broadcasting, the right of rebroadcasting, the right of secondary broadcasting, the right of communication to the public, the right of transformation, the right of audiovisual adaptation and all other rights of the author according to ZASP.
The aforementioned rights are transferred non-exclusively, for an unlimited number of editions, for the term of the statutory
The Author can make use of his work himself or transfer subjective rights to others only after 3 months from date of first publishing in the journal Zdravniški vestnik/Slovenian Medical Journal.
The Publisher (Zdravniški vestnik/Slovenian Medical Journal) has the right to transfer the rights, acquired parties without explicit consent of the Author.
The Author consents that the Article be published under the Creative Commons BY-NC 4.0 (attribution-non-commercial) or comparable licence.