Resumen de Comorbilidad en personas con depresión que consultan en centros de la atención primaria de salud en Santiago, Chile

Pablo Martínez, María Graciela Rojas C., Rosemarie Fritsch, Vania Martínez, Paul Vöringer, Ariel Castro

• Background: International evidence has shown the complex interaction between depression and chronic physical diseases. Depression in scenarios involving multiple comorbidities has not received enough attention in Chile. Aim: To characterize the depressed people who consult at Primary Health Care Centers (PHCCs), taking into account the presence of chronic physical or psychiatric comorbidity. Materials and Methods: A secondary analysis of databases used in a clinical trial. Two hundred fifty six adults seeking professional help were recruited in four PHCCs located in the Metropolitan Region. These people had a major depressive episode, identified with a structured psychiatric interview (MINI), and gave their informed consent to participate. Socio-demographic information was collected, depressive symptomatology was measured with the patient health questionnaire 9 (PHQ-9), psychiatric morbidity was assessed using the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI), and chronic physical diseases were self-reported by the patients. Descriptive analyses of all the variables were conducted. Results: Seventy percent of patients had a history of depression, with a median of two prior depressive episodes. Depressive symptoms were mostly considered as moderate to severe and severe and 31% of the patients had high suicide risk. Seventy eight percent displayed a physical or psychiatric comorbidity. Of these patients, 29% only had a chronic physical comorbidity, while 46% suffered from an additional psychiatric disorder. Conclusions: Depressed individuals who seek help at PHCCs constitute an especially complex population that must be treated taking into account multiple comorbidities.