Comorbid anxiety and depression disorders in patients with chronic pain

Abstract

To evaluate the frequency of anxiety and depression disorders in patients with chronic pain. 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. 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%). Psychiatric comorbidities are prevalent in patients suffering chronic pain.