[The importance of detection and treatment of somatic symptoms in Latin American patients with major depression].

OBJECTIVE

Major depression is a disease characterized by the presence of mental and somatic symptoms, the latter affecting considerably the diagnostic and therapeutic procedures and the prognosis.

METHOD: We searched for published articles until June 2006 crossing several terms which allow us to include those articles referring to the comorbidity of major depression and somatic symptoms, the prevalence of that comorbidity in Latino Americans, and/or the impact and patterns of use of the antidepressant treatments in patients with major depression and associated somatic symptoms.

RESULTS

Somatic symptoms in Latino Americans with major depression are common, probably more than in other populations around the world. They compromise the response to treatment, are associated with refractoriness and chronicity, and are usually denied in the psychiatry practice in some Latin American countries, where the practice in prescribing low doses of antidepressants is common and could affect the control of residual somatic symptoms with higher rates of recurrences.

CONCLUSION

Clinicians working in Latin American countries must be prepared to detect somatic symptoms in their patients with major depression, looking for the prescription of appropriate therapeutic doses of the antidepressants.