[Diagnosis of major depression in HIV-infected patients]

A survey of current mood disorders (and especially major depression) is performed after considering quoted literature over the last five years. The sample includes all the HIV-infected-patients continuously referred to the Outpatient Service of the Infectious Diseases dept. of Bologna's "Ospedale Maggiore" General Hospital during some five days (19-23rd, July 1993). Each of the 53 recruited subjects was seen by a psychiatrist in the same morning of his/her medical visit; then also BPRS, STAI, CGI, BDI and MADRS were administered. A psychiatric diagnosis has been found in the 45% of the sample. The results being discriminated on the basis of absence-presence and diagnostic category, they point out a significant prevalence of ARC among subjects with psychiatric diagnosis and prevalence of asymptomatic HIV-infection among those ones with absent psychiatric diagnosis. Drug dependence (72%) and personality disorder are markedly prominent among ARC patients. But the surprising outcome (lower than references data) is that the diagnosis of current major depression is found only in 1.9% of cases (mood disorder in 9.4%).