Somatic Symptoms and Its Association to Depressive Severity in Patients with Major Depressive Disorder in King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital

Abstract

Objectives :

A determine the prevalence of somatic symptoms and its association to depressive severity in patients with major depressive disorder.

Method :

A descriptive study was conducted in patients aged above 18 years with major depressive disorder at the Psychiatric Outpatient Clinic, King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital between November 2013 and April 2014. The instruments consisted of five questionnaires; 1) The demographic data form, 2) The beck depression inventory II (BDI-II)-Thai version, 3) The patient health questionnaire somatic symptom and scale 15 (PHQ-15)-Thai version, 4) The 1-year life stress event questionnaire, and 5) The social support questionnaire. The prevalence of somatic symptoms of patients with depressive disorder was presented by frequency and percentage. The associated factors of depressive severity were analyzed using chi-square test. The predictors of depressive severity were analyzed using logistic regression analysis.

Results :

Among 180 participants with the mean age of 45.20 ±14.28 years old, 75% of them were female. The prevalence of somatic symptoms was 94.4%. The six most common symptoms were headache (66.7%), back pain (63.3%), extremity pain (63.3%), fatigue (61.7%), sleep problems (61.7%) and dizziness (61.1%). The associated factors of depressive severity were duration of depression, number of medications, social support, stressful life events, numbers and severity of somatic symptoms. The predictors of the medium-to-high severity of depression were the illness duration of less than 2 years (p < 0.05) and somatic symptoms severity (p<0.01).

Conclusion :

The prevalence of somatic symptoms in patients with major depressive disorder in King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospitalwas 94.4%. Headache was the most common symptoms (66.7%). The associated factors and predictors of the medium-to-high severity of depression were duration of illness of less than 2 years and somatic symptoms severity.Taking a history about somatic symptoms, their characteristics, number, and severity will help to assess the severity of depression.