Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Multicenter Study
. 2008 May;192(5):351-5.
doi: 10.1192/bjp.bp.107.038380.

Medical disorders in people with recurrent depression

Anne Farmer  1 , Ania Korszun, Michael J Owen, Nick Craddock, Lisa Jones, Ian Jones, Jo Gray, Richard J Williamson, Peter McGuffin
Affiliations
Multicenter Study

Medical disorders in people with recurrent depression

Anne Farmer et al. Br J Psychiatry. 2008 May.

Abstract

Background: Few studies have examined the rates of physical disorders in those with recurrent depression.

Aims: To examine self-reported physical disorders in people with recurrent depression compared with a psychiatrically healthy control group.

Method: As part of a genetic case-control association study, 1546 participants with recurrent depression and 884 controls were interviewed about lifetime ever treatment for 16 different physical health disorders.

Results: The cases group had a significantly higher frequency of 14 physical disorders and more obesity than the control group. After controlling for age, gender, body mass index (BMI) and multiple testing, those in the cases group had significantly higher rates of gastric ulcer, rhinitis/hay fever, osteoarthritis, thyroid disease, hypertension and asthma.

Conclusions: People with recurrent depression show high rates of many common physical disorders. Although this can be partly explained by BMI, shared aetiological pathways such as dysfunction of the hypothalamic-pituitary axis may have a role.

PubMed Disclaimer

Publication types