Photo Credit: Enes Ertan

The following is a summary of “Poor control of pain increases the risk of depression: a cross-sectional study,” published in the January 2025 issue of Psychiatry by Zeng et al. 

Inadequate pain management leads to prolonged discomfort and triggers psychological issues like anxiety, depression, and social withdrawal, affecting work performance. 

Researchers conducted a retrospective study to explore the link between pain duration and depression. 

They used National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) data (2011-2014) with depressive symptoms defined by a score of ≥10. They applied logistic regression, sensitivity, and restricted cubic spline (RCS) analyses to explore the link between pain duration and depression, including a subgroup analysis for confounders. 

The results showed that, among 2,248 participants, 442 (19.6%) had depressive symptoms, with an average age of 52 years and 69% female. After adjusting for confounders, pain duration was significantly linked to depression. Those in the highest quartile of pain duration had a 154% higher likelihood of depression (OR = 3.375, 95% CI 2.329-4.886, P < 0.001), with a significant trend (P for trend < 0.001). The RCS analysis showed a linear relationship between pain duration and depression (P for nonlinearity = 0.427). 

Investigators found that inadequate pain control, leading to prolonged pain, significantly increased the risk of depression. 

Source: frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1514094/full