Comorbid anxiety and depression disorders in patients with chronic pain

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the frequency of anxiety and depression disorders in patients with chronic pain. METHOD: 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%). CONCLUSION: Psychiatric comorbidities are prevalent in patients suffering chronic pain.

Bibliographic Details

Main Authors:	Castro,Martha, Kraychete,Durval, Daltro,Carla, Lopes,Josiane, Menezes,Rafael, Oliveira,Irismar
Format:	Digital revista
Language:	English
Published:	Academia Brasileira de Neurologia - ABNEURO 2009
Online Access:	http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0004-282X2009000600004
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