Source: Shock  |  Posted 9 years ago

Chronic painful physical conditions (CPPCs) are strongly associated with major depressive disorder, researchers from the United States report.

The association remained even when the researchers controlled for the presence of non-painful medical conditions, while co-occurrence of CPPCs and non-painful medical conditions increased the likelihood of patients having a major depressive disorder. As well, the presence of CPPCs increased the duration of depressive mood in study patients.

"This study clearly shows the importance of CPPCs in subjects with major depressive disorder," state investigators from Stanford University in Stanford, California.

Chronic pain was defined as pain lasting six months or more, with several types of conditions covered: those causing joint/articular, limb or back pain, headaches and gastrointestinal diseases.

A random sample of 18,980 people living in the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Portugal and Spain were interviewed by telephone using the Sleep-Eval system. Participants were aged from 15 to 100 years. Data on painful conditions came from answers to questions about medical treatment/consultations and/or hospitalisations for a list of 42 diseases.

Overall, 17.1% of participants reported having at least one CPPC and 16.5% had at least one depressive symptom. Depressive symptoms included: sadness, depression, hopelessness, loss of interest and lack of pleasure.

Of those reporting at least one depressive symptom, 27.6% had at least one CPPC.

A diagnosis of major depressive disorder was made in 4% of participants, and 43.4% of those with major depression had at least one CPPC. The researchers point out this was four times the rate in people without major depressive disorder.