[Depression and somatic diseases. On one retrospective study of 210 patients with major depression hospitalized in a psychiatric hospital].
Associations between depression and somatic disorders are common and little studied. We present the results of a retrospective study including 210 psychiatric inpatients, suffering from a major depressive episodes (MDE-DSM III-R criteria). The purpose of this study was: first, to access the prevalence of comorbid MDEs with somatic illness, second to describe the clinical, therapeutic and evolutionary characteristics of MDEs secondary to a physical trouble, comparatively with primary depressions and depressions secondary to another psychiatric disorder. A somatic comorbidity was found in 55% of patients (n = 116), the physical illness being, in 6% of cases, causal regarding MDEs. MDEs with a somatic comorbidity (n = 55) are significantly different from primary MDEs (n = 36) and MDEs secondary to another psychiatric disorder (n = 58), regarding an older age at hospitalization and at first affective episode. Moreover, they are different from MDEs secondary to another psychiatric disorder through fewer past suicide attempts, more episodes with melancholic or psychotic characteristics and a lower frequency of tricyclic antidepressant use. Despite methodologically limited, these results confirm the frequency of physical comorbidity in depressed patients hospitalized in general hospitals, especially in elderly subjects. They also reflect the heterogeneity of the group of secondary depressions, MDEs associated with a somatic illness being closer to MDEs secondary to another psychiatric disorder than to primary MDEs.
Bigot
T
T
Service de Psychiatrie, Groupe Hospitalier Cochin, Paris.
Trouillet
C
C
Hardy
P
P
Pinabel
F
F
Féline
A
A
D000328:Adult; D000929:Antidepressive Agents, Tricyclic / Q000627:therapeutic use; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013001:Somatoform Disorders / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis
D000929:Antidepressive Agents, Tricyclic