[Increased morbidity and use of Primary Care medical services in patients with major depressive disorder and their families: a retrospective cohort study].
OBJECTIVE
To study the impact of non-psychiatric medical visits by patients with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) and their family members, compared to healthy people and their relatives in Primary Care.


METHODS
Retrospective cohort observational study.


METHODS
San Alberto Hurtado Primary Care Clinic, Santiago-Chile.


METHODS
Patients diagnosed with MDD during 2008 were paired by gender, age, and educational level with 2 healthy controls. We followed-up 206 patients with 310 family members and 412 controls with 588 relatives.


METHODS
During 1 year after the diagnosis, all health visits were assessed in patients and their family members and compared with healthy controls and their relatives. For statistical analysis we used U-Mann-Whitney, considering statistical significance with p values ≤0.05.


RESULTS
The relative risk of making a non-psychiatric medical visit in depressed patients was 1.43 (95% CI: 1.19-1.67) and in their family members was 1.37 (95% CI: 1.16-1.58). The most frequent health complaints in patients were trauma, respiratory, and neurological problems. Family members visited physicians due trauma, psychiatric and endocrinological complaints.


CONCLUSIONS
The patients with MDD and their family members have a higher rate of medical visits in Primary Care. A family-oriented treatment of these patients could improve clinical outcomes and reduce the patient overload in this setting.
Departamento de Medicina Familiar, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile. dgarciah@med.puc.cl
Diego
D
García-Huidobro
Tomás
T
León
Guillermo
G
Vidal
Fernando
F
Poblete
Patricio
P
Rojas
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000628:therapy*; D005192:Family Health; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D055815:Young Adult