Ga. Nichols et Jb. Brown, Following depression in primary care - Do family practice physicians ask about depression at different rates than internal medicine physicians?, ARCH FAM M, 9(5), 2000, pp. 478-482
Objective: To determine whether the chronically or recurrently depressed pa
tients of family practice and internal medicine physicians differed in the
proportion reporting that their primary care physician asked them about dep
ression symptoms.
Design: A cross-sectional observational study of chronically or recurrently
depressed survey respondents who identified a family practice or internal
medicine physician as their primary care provider.
Setting: A large not-for-profit group-model health maintenance organization
in the northwestern United States, with a population representative of its
service area.
Patients: Health maintenance organization members (n = 1161) with ongoing o
r recurring depression or dysthymia who responded to a 1993 survey and who
identified either a family practice or internal medicine physician as their
primary care provider.
Main Outcome Measure: Patients' self-report of their primary care physician
asking them: (1) whether they had been feeling, sad, blue, or depressed; (
2) to fill out a questionnaire about their mood or feelings; and (3) whethe
r they had been thinking about death or suicide.
Results: Chronically or recurrently depressed patients of family practice p
hysicians were more likely to report that their physician asked them about
depressive symptoms than were patients of internal medicine physicians (34.
0% vs 27.3%) (P = .02). This finding persisted in a multivariate analysis.
Conclusion: Family practice physicians may be more attentive to depressive
disorders than internal medicine physicians.