Citation

Bohman H, Jonsson U, von Knorring AL, von Knorring L, Päären A, Olsson G. Acta Paediatr. 2010; 99(11): 1724-1730.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2010, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.1651-2227.2010.01906.x

PMID

20545935

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.

Language: en

Keywords

Humans; Female; Male; Adolescent; Severity of Illness Index; Prevalence; Suicidal Ideation; Surveys and Questionnaires; Case-Control Studies; Interpersonal Relations; Peer Group; Stress, Psychological; Life Change Events; Interview, Psychological; Depressive Disorder; Attention Deficit and Disruptive Behavior Disorders; Somatoform Disorders