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Depressive symptoms among women with vulvar dysesthesia.

OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to determine whether vulvar dysesthesia is associated with elevated depressive symptoms.


STUDY DESIGN
This was a cross-sectional case-control study of women who underwent treatment of vulvar dysesthesia (n=32) or who were seen for a routine gynecologic examination (n=32). Subjects completed measures of depressive symptoms and pain and a sexual and medical history. Multivariate and univariate analyses were conducted.


RESULTS
Analyses that were adjusted for age, education, and medical conditions indicated that vulvar dysesthesia was associated positively with depressive symptoms (P=.002). However, this was attributable to the somatic (P=.002) rather than cognitive-affective symptoms (P=.16) of depression, partially related to the endorsement of sexual disinterest, and mediated by pain reports.


CONCLUSION
Vulvar dysesthesia is associated with elevated depressive symptom severity, although not to the extent that indicates probable depressive disorder. In this condition, depressive symptoms are likely to be a measurement artifact, rather than a depressive process. Certain depressive symptoms (eg, sexual disinterest) directly inflate depression estimates in this patient group.