BLOOMINGTON, Ind., Aug 24, 2004 (United Press International via COMTEX) -- People suffering from depression frequently also suffer physical symptoms, University of Indiana researchers have concluded.

Depressed patients complain of headaches, back or muscle pain and stomach aches nearly as often as they report symptoms more commonly associated with depression -- fatigue, lack of motivation and moodiness, said an article in the August issue of the Journal of General Internal Medicine.

"Depression is a risk factor for symptoms of pain," Dr. Kurt Kroenke, an IU professor and research scientist, said. "The most reports of pain -- such as muscle pain, headaches, leg pain -- are two or three times more common in people with depression."

He warned doctors not to ignore the physical symptoms and even use them as a barometer to measure the effectiveness of common antidepressant treatments.

He also cautioned physical symptoms can linger longer than emotional symptoms in patients treated for depression.

The study examined 573 depressed patients in 37 clinic settings at one, three, six and nine months. In more than a third of the patients, physical symptoms persisted longer than the depression symptoms.

From Healthy.net