Abstract
BackgroundThe presenting symptoms of depression can be influenced by cultural differences. This study was conducted to compare the presenting symptoms and response to antidepressant medication of patients in Sweden and Turkey, two culturally different European countries.MethodsRecruitment was triggered when adult patients were diagnosed with a depressive or anxiety disorder by a primary care physician and prescribed an antidepressant. Physicians and patients recorded presenting symptoms and completed relevant questionnaires just before and 8 weeks after starting treatment with an antidepressant. These included the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), the Clinical Global Impressions (CGI) scale, the Sheehan Disability Scale (SDS), and Likert scales gauging the importance of physical and psychological symptoms. Patients also rated severity of prominent symptoms (depression, anxiety, stress, sleep and pain) from zero to ten. The outcomes were compared between patients from Sweden and Turkey using Fisher's Exact test and two-sample t-tests.ResultsThe study was conducted in 460 patients (107, 23.3% in Sweden; 353, 76.7% in Turkey). Presenting symptoms differed between Sweden and Turkey, with Turkish patients more likely to present with physical symptoms, and report a higher number of physical symptoms (mean 2.4 vs. 1.4, p < 0.001). In both countries, the diagnosis made by the physician differed from that derived from the HADS score at the start of the study. The HADS diagnosis varied between the countries with significantly different proportions of patients in each country being diagnosed with depression alone, anxiety alone or depression with anxiety. While all symptoms improved after antidepressant treatment in both countries, Turkish patients showed a greater degree of response than Swedish patients in depression (p = 0.048), stress (p = 0.014) and pain (p < 0.001) as measured by the prominent symptoms assessment (PSA).ConclusionsThe presenting symptoms of patients diagnosed with a depressive or anxiety disorder by a primary care physician and prescribed an antidepressant differ between Turkey and Sweden. Patients in Turkey were more likely to present with physical symptoms than patients in Sweden and present with more physical symptoms. After 8 weeks of antidepressant treatment, the improvement from baseline was greater in Turkish patients, and this was reflected in their improved functioning.
Highlights
The presenting symptoms of depression can be influenced by cultural differences
While the majority of patients in both countries were aged between 35-49 years, the mean age of patients recruited in Turkey was 11 years lower than in Sweden
Turkish patients were more likely to present with physical symptoms of fatigue, pain, GI disturbance, cardiovascular and CNS problems than Swedish patients (Table 1)
Summary
The presenting symptoms of depression can be influenced by cultural differences. The World Organisation of Family Doctors (WONCA) culturally sensitive depression guideline notes that ‘The primary care physician needs to understand the cultural, religious and gender paradigm that the individual brings to the consultation in order to increase the chance of establishing a therapeutic alliance that reduces the personal distance between physician and patient. This will maximise the chance of therapeutic success’ [6]. The decision is influenced by the interaction between physician and patient, the manner in which the patient presents and by differing cultural factors
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