Somatic symptoms as a marker for severity in adolescent depression |
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Authors: | Hannes Bohman Ulf Jonsson Anne‐Liis Von Knorring Lars Von Knorring Aivar Päären Gunilla Olsson |
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Affiliation: | 1. Department of Neuroscience, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden;2. Department of Neuroscience, Psychiatry, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden |
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Abstract: | 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. |
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Keywords: | Adolescent depression Somatic symptoms Severity of depression |
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