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Somatic symptoms as a marker for severity in adolescent depression
Author(s) -
Bohman Hannes,
Jonsson Ulf,
Von Knorring AnneLiis,
Von Knorring Lars,
Päären Aivar,
Olsson Gunilla
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
acta pædiatrica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.772
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1651-2227
pISSN - 0803-5253
DOI - 10.1111/j.1651-2227.2010.01906.x
Subject(s) - depression (economics) , comorbidity , medicine , somatic cell , psychiatry , clinical psychology , population , depressive symptoms , poison control , anxiety , medical emergency , biochemistry , chemistry , environmental health , gene , economics , macroeconomics
Aim: This study aims to investigate the prevalence of somatic symptoms in depressed adolescents and in their healthy peers. A second aim is to investigate the correlation, in the depressed adolescents, between the number of somatic symptoms and severe concurrent symptoms, signs and life events. Methods: The total population of 16–17 year olds – in the city of Uppsala – was screened for depression and then interviewed using a structured interview questionnaire. Depressed subjects and matched controls were identified. A total of 177 pairs were used for pair‐wise analyses of somatic symptoms. Severe symptoms, signs and life events were selected for analysing their relation to depression with somatic symptoms. Results: The adolescents with depressive disorders experienced considerably more somatic symptoms than their healthy controls. The duration and depth of the depression correlated with the number of somatic symptoms. There was a strong correlation between depression with many somatic symptoms and suicidal plans/thoughts, suicidal attempts, disruptive behaviour, as well as multiple stressful relationships. Conclusion: This study demonstrates that somatic symptoms are common in adolescent depression. Multiple somatic symptoms within depression imply a higher severity in terms of duration, depth and psychiatric comorbidity. The strong correlation with suicidal plans, suicidal attempts and disruptive behaviour is concerning.