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Influence of somatic symptoms on patient health questionnaire‐9 depression scores among patients with systemic sclerosis compared to a healthy general population sample

Depression symptom measures that include somatic symptoms may inflate severity estimates among medically ill patients, including patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc; scleroderma). The 9‐item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ‐9) is increasingly used to assess depressive symptoms in medical settings, but it is not known whether PHQ‐9 scores are influenced by somatic symptoms common in medical illness. The objective was to assess whether SSc patients had higher somatic symptom scores on the PHQ‐9 than non–medically ill respondents from the general population matched on cognitive/affective scores.