Prevalence of depressive symptoms in primary care.

Abstract

Clinically significant depressive symptoms are highly prevalent in primary care patients; however, depression is an infrequent patient complaint. There are certain patient characteristics that may cue the physician to consider depression in the differential diagnosis, particularly the patient's self-perception of his or her overall health status. In addition, certain other subsets of patients are at increased risk of depression, such as women, those in older age groups, and those of lower socioeconomic status.