Resumen de Assessment of anxiety and depression in cardiac patients in the outpatient department of faisalabad institute of cardiology
S.A. Khan, M. Ghulam, S. M. Asad, M. Ahmad, N. U. Rehman
Background: The pervasiveness of anxiety and depressive illness in cardiac patients and its related factors in Pakistan is still not known. Untreated anxiety and depression can lead to morbidity so it is necessary to do an evidence base study to introduce interventions. In this study we observed the effect of depression and anxiety among cardiac outpatients compared with individuals of control group having no cardiac disease and also studied the consequences of various demographic, clinical and behavioral factors on levels of depression and anxiety in cardiac patients.
Method: Cross-sectional study was conducted in the outpatient department (OPD) of Faisalabad Institute of Cardiology. Aga Khan University Anxiety and Depression Scale (AKUADS) was used to estimate the occurrence of depression and anxiety in selected participants. The data consisted of 400 diagnosed cardiac patients and 400 participants without cardiac disease (control group).
Results: Using cut-off score of 20 on AKUADS, overall 90.75% (363) of cardiac patient's anxiety and depression were commonly noticed. 68.25% subjects (273) of the control group had depression and anxiety. Psychological suffering had been found 4.56 times more in the cardiac patients (OR = 4.564,95% CI = 3.064-6.798, P = 0.0001). Angina pectoris, myocardial infection, congestive heart failure, ventricular fibrillation and myocardial ischemia were the cardiovascular diseases with high occurrence of depression and anxiety. Significant increase in the probabilities of occurrence of anxiety and depression in cardiac patients was correlated with the age of above 60 years. It has been found that gender is the leading factor of high occurrence of threats like depression and anxiety rather than the demographic dynamics like socioeconomic status, educational background, locality marital status and occupation as there were non-significant (p > 0.05) differences among patients regarding these variables.
Conclusion: Occurrence of major anxiety disorder and generalized depressive disorder in cardiac patients in Faisalabad is shown in this study. Results showed that females, especially housewives, are at high risk for developing depression and/or anxiety in this population, and must require close monitoring. The results conclude that patients showing symptoms of anxiety and depression must refer for its treatment to minimize the high risk of psychiatric illness
