title: Comorbid anxiety and depression disorders in patients with chronic pain.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the frequency of anxiety and depression disorders in patients with chronic pain.
  
  
  METHODS
  Patients receiving care at the pain clinic of the Federal University of Bahia between February 2003 and November 2006. The MINI PLUS--Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview was used to evaluate the patients and establish psychiatric diagnoses.
  
  
  RESULTS
  400 patients were evaluated mean age was 45.6+/-11.37 years; 82.8% were female, 17.3% male; 48.5% were married; 55.1% were Catholics; and 40.5% had only high school education. Of these 29.9% reported intense pain and 70.8% reported suffering pain daily. The most frequent medical diagnosis was herniated disc (24.5%), and 48.5% of patients had been undergoing treatment at the pain clinic for less than 3 months. Comorbidities found were depressive episodes (42%), dysthymia (54%), social phobia (36.5%), agoraphobia (8.5%) and panic disorder (7.3%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Psychiatric comorbidities are prevalent in patients suffering chronic pain.
authors.affiliation: Pain Clinic, Professor Edgard Santos University Hospital, Federal University of Bahia, Salvador, BA, Brazil. marthamcastro@uol.com.br
authors.forename: Martha
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Castro
authors.forename: Durval
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kraychete
authors.forename: Carla
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Daltro
authors.forename: Josiane
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lopes
authors.forename: Rafael
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Menezes
authors.forename: Irismar
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Oliveira
mesh_terms: D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010146:Pain / Q000523:psychology*; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors