Pain as a symptom in elderly depressed patients. Relationship to diagnostic subgroups.

The presence of pain as a symptom has been studied in a series of 51 depressed elderly inpatients and in a control group of 71 subjects. The frequency of patients with moderate to severe pain was significantly higher in the experimental group (72%) than in the controls (33.8%). Of the various categories diagnosed according to the DSM III degree criteria, the highest scores for pain were gained by the subjects suffering from dysthymic disorder and atypical depression, while those obtained by the patients with major depression and adjustment disorder with depressive mood were lower. The difference does not seem to depend on the quantity of anxiety present.