Comorbid anxiety and depression disorders in patients with chronic pain

Abstract

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.