title: Prevalence, characteristics, and attribution of somatic symptoms in Spanish patients with major depressive disorder seeking primary health care.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Somatic symptoms (SS) tend to dominate clinical symptomatology in patients with depression in primary care.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The authors performed a cross-sectional nationwide epidemiological study on 1,150 primary-care patients with major depression and evaluated the prevalence of SS and physicians' attribution of their origin.
  
  
  METHODS
  Patients were administered the Structured Polyvalent Psychiatric Interview.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Ninety-three percent of patients had at least one SS fully or partially attributed to depression, and 45% of patients had four to nine. Painful symptoms, despite being the most frequent, were the least often attributed to depression (fewer than 25% of patients with pain) and significantly more often attributed to a combined origin.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Results suggest that primary-care physicians tend to associate pain with depression to a significantly lesser extent than any other somatic symptom (e.g., cardiopulmonary or gastrointestinal). Therefore, special attention should be given to painful symptoms in order to ensure efficient management of depression in primary care.
authors.affiliation: Clinical Research Department, Lilly, SA, Avenida de la Industria 30, Alcobendas E-28108, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Luis
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Caballero
authors.forename: Enric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Aragonès
authors.forename: Javier
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: García-Campayo
authors.forename: Fernando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Rodríguez-Artalejo
authors.forename: Jose Luis
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Ayuso-Mateos
authors.forename: Pepa
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Polavieja
authors.forename: Eduardo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Gómez-Utrero
authors.forename: Irene
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Romera
authors.forename: Immaculada
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Gilaberte
mesh_terms: D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000379:methods*; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011602:Psychophysiologic Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D013030:Spain / Q000453:epidemiology