Association between Painful Physical Symptoms and Clinical Outcomes in Korean Patients with Major Depressive Disorder: A Three-Month Observational Study.
OBJECTIVE
This paper aims to examine the association between painful physical symptoms (PPS) and major depressive disorder (MDD) in a naturalistic clinical practice setting within a Korean population.


METHODS
Patients with acute MDD that joined a multicountry, observational, three-month study in six Asian countries and regions were classified as PPS+ (mean score >/=2) and PPS- (mean score <2) using the modified Somatic Symptom Inventory. In this analysis, we report the results from the Korean subset, where depression severity was assessed using the Clinical Global Impression of Severity (CGI-S) scale and 17-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD(17)). Pain severity was measured using a visual analogue scale (VAS), while the EuroQoL (EQ-5D) assessed patient well-being.


RESULTS
Of 198 patients, 45.96% (91/198) of patients were classified as PPS+, of which 78.02% (71/91) were women. PPS+ patients had significantly more severe depression at baseline {CGI-S score, mean [standard deviation (SD)], PPS+: 5.09 [0.79]; PPS-: 4.63 [0.76]; p<0.001; HAMD(17) total score, mean [SD], PPS+: 24.34 [5.24]; PPS-: 20.76 [5.12]; p<0.001} and poorer quality of life [EQ-5D overall health state, mean (SD), PPS+: 39.37 (20.52); PPS-: 51.27 [20.78]; p<0.001] than PPS- patients. Both groups improved significantly (p<0.001) in depression and pain severity outcomes, as well as quality of life by endpoint, but no significant within-group baseline-to-endpoint change wase observed.


CONCLUSIONS
The frequency of PPS was common in Korean patients with MDD, and was associated with more severe depression, poorer quality of life, and a trend towards poorer clinical outcome.
Department of Psychiatry, Korea University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Min Soo
MS
Lee
Sun Young
SY
Yum
Jin Pyo
JP
Hong
Se Chang
SC
Yoon
Jai Sung
JS
Noh
Kwang Hun
KH
Lee
Jung Ki
JK
Kim
Sang Yeol
SY
Lee
Pritibha
P
Singh
Tamas
T
Treuer
Victoria
V
Reed
Joel
J
Raskin