Depression and Pain Comorbidity

Because depression and painful symptoms commonly occur together, we conducted a literature review to determine the prevalence of both conditions and the effects of comorbidity on diagnosis, clinical outcomes, and treatment. The prevalences of pain in depressed cohorts and depression in pain cohorts are higher than when these conditions are individually examined. The presence of pain negatively affects the recognition and treatment of depression. When pain is moderate to severe, impairs function, and/or is refractory to treatment, it is associated with more depressive symptoms and worse depression outcomes (eg, lower quality of life, decreased work function, and increased health care utilization). Similarly,…

• BS
  Bristol-Myers Squibb
• EL
  Eli Lilly and Company
• P
  Pfizer
• G
  GlaxoSmithKline
• UO
  University of Washington
• SO
  School of Medicine, Indiana University