Chinese patients with major depression: Do concomitant pain symptoms affect quality of life independently of severity of depression?. (August 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Novick, Diego; Montgomery, William; Moneta, Maria Victoria; Peng, Xiaomei; Brugnoli, Roberto; Haro, Josep Maria
• Is Part Of: International journal of psychiatry in clinical practice. Volume 19:Number 3(2015)
• Page Start: 174
• Page End: 181
• Publication Date: 2015-08
• Subjects: Mental illness -- Periodicals; Older people -- Mental health -- Periodicals; Psychiatry -- Periodicals; 616.89005
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1365-1501

Abstract

<abstract> <title>Abstract</title> <p> <italic>Objective.</italic> This study investigated whether painful physical symptoms (PPSs) influenced quality of life (QoL) when adjusting for severity of depression. <italic>Methods.</italic> Severity of depression, QoL and PPSs were assessed at baseline and 3 months among the Chinese cohort (<italic>n = </italic>300) of a 3-month observational study of major depressive disorder (MDD) in East Asia. The presence of PPS was defined as 'a mean score of ≥2 on the Somatic Symptom Inventory pain-related items'. Regression analyses determined predictors of QoL at 3 months, adjusting for age, sex, depressive symptoms, overall severity and QoL at baseline. <italic>Results.</italic> PPSs were present (PPS+) at baseline in 35.3% of patients. Over 3 months, in the whole sample, EuroQoL visual analogue scale (EQ-VAS) score improved from 45.5 (standard deviation [SD]: 20.9) to 81 (SD: 16.7), and EuroQoL 5-Dimension Questionnaire (EQ-5D) score improved from 0.52 (SD: 0.31) to 0.89 (0.16). At 3 months, mean EQ-VAS was 75.9 (SD: 17.7) for PPS+ <italic>versus</italic> 83.7 (SD: 15.6) for PPS−, and mean EQ-5D was 0.83 (SD: 0.17) <italic>versus</italic> 0.92 (SD: 0.14). PPS+ at baseline was a significant predictor of QoL at 3 months after adjusting for socio-demographic and baseline clinical variables. <italic>Conclusions.</italic> PPSs were associated with less improvement in QoL in patients receiving treatment for MDD, independent of severity of depression.</p> </abstract>