Quality of life, diagnosis, and treatment of patients with major depression: a prospective cohort study in primary care

Revista Brasileira de Psiquiatria

Ana Flávia Barros Da Silva Lima²  Marcelo Pio De Almeida Fleck¹ 

[1] ,Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do SulPorto Alegre RS ,Brazil

关键词: Quality of life;    Diagnosis;    Depressive disorder;    major;    Primary health care;    Signs and symptoms;    Qualidade de vida;    Diagnóstico;    Transtorno depressivo maior;    Atenção primária à saúde;    Sinais e sintomas;   

DOI  :  10.1590/S1516-44462011000300007

来源: SciELO

【 摘 要 】

OBJECTIVE: To describe the demographic and clinical characteristics, adequacy of antidepressant treatment, and changes in quality of life of patients with major depression receiving follow-up care from primary care centers. METHOD: A cohort study was performed in which major depression patients were followed-up over a nine-month period. Several evaluation instruments were used, including the World Health Organization Quality of Life and the Quality of Life-Depression, Centers for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression questionnaires. RESULTS: The sample comprised 179 individuals, mostly female (73%), with a mean age of 38 years and mean education of 9 years. At the end of the follow-up period, 42% of the individuals still presented with major depression, 25% had complete symptom remission, and only 9% were properly treated with antidepressants. In relation to quality of life, there were significant differences especially between baseline and after nine months in almost all measures. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated that depressive symptoms are poorly recognized and that treatment is often inadequate for patients followed-up in primary care units in the south of Brazil. Most of the patients continued to have symptoms of depression over the nine-month period which were associated with impaired quality of life.

【 授权许可】

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