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Medical Research Council, Social Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, London
Department of Psychiatry, St Bartholomews and Royal London Medical School, London
Department of Psychological Medicine, Wales School of Medicine, Cardiff University, Cardiff
Department of Psychiatry, University of Birmingham, Queen Elizabeth Psychiatric Hospital, Birmingham
Department of Psychological Medicine, Wales School of Medicine, Cardiff University, Cardiff
Medical Research Council, Social Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, London, UK
Correspondence: Dr Anne Farmer, Medical Research Council, Social Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, London SE5 8AF, UK. Email: a.farmer{at}iop.kcl.ac.uk
None. Funding detailed in Acknowledgements.
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.
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