Toronto—Growing recognition of bidirectional links between mood and medical disorders lends urgency to efforts to speed recognition of mood disorders in the primary care setting. Surveys show 8 of 10 patients later diagnosed with depression initially present with a physical symptom.
Mood disorders carry a hefty medical burden. They boost patients' risks for obesity, cardiac and cerebrovascular disease, diabetes mellitus, thyroid disease, and other medical illnesses, and also exacerbate the severity of these disorders, said David Kupfer, MD, chair of psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.
Individuals with mood disorders are more apt to smoke and to abuse alcohol and other drugs than are people who do not have such illnesses. They have higher rates of coexisting anxiety disorders, eating disorders, and motor vehicle crashes. They also are more likely to die by suicide, added Kupfer.
Co-occurring mood and medical disorders may stem from . . . [Full Text of this Article]
BIPOLAR DISORDER NOT RARE
