Managing depression and medical comorbidities.
Caring for patients with depression who have comorbid medical conditions is a major challenge for primary care physicians. Depression is often difficult to diagnose in a primary care setting, and comorbidity vastly complicates diagnosis because of physiologic interactions and shared symptoms. Furthermore, physicians face the difficulty of developing a treatment plan that improves the outcome of multiple conditions at the same time. Fortunately, because of the recent development of effective and well-tolerated antidepressants, successful treatment and long-term management of depression are relatively straightforward and often greatly improve the status of the comorbid illness as well by improving overall function, treatment adherence, recovery rates, and survival time.
Culpepper
Larry
L
Department of Family Medicine, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA 02118-2393, USA. larry.culpepper@bmc.org
D000928:Antidepressive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000150:complications; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003863:Depression / Q000150:complications* / Q000188:drug therapy*; D048909:Diabetes Complications; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000150:complications; D006801:Humans; D011320:Primary Health Care; D020521:Stroke / Q000150:complications
D000928:Antidepressive Agents