Prevalence of anxiety and depression in patients with airway obstruction using hospital anxiety and depression scale (HADS) in different localities of Saudi Arabia

Background: Both of asthma and COPD affect psychological state due to their impact on general activities of patients and their ability to cause anxiety and depression. The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, HADS, was designed to provide a simple and reliable tool for use in medical practice. Aim: This study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of anxiety and depression disorders in asthma and COPD patients in different Saudi Arabia localities and their relationship to pulmonary function. Patients and methods: This study included 420 subjects from three different places in KSA (Jeddah, Riyadh and AL Khobar) and were divided into three groups. Group I asthmatic patients included (150) patients, group II COPD patients included (150) patients and control group contain (120) healthy subjects. All patients were instructed to answer the questionnaire of HADS. Results: There is increased prevalence of anxiety and depression in both asthma (28%, 20%) and COPD (22%, 14%) patients in comparison to control group (16%, 4%) respectively. Anxiety was more common in females than males in asthmatics with highly significant statistical differences (p .002) while depression was common in males than females with highly significant statistical differences (p .001). In COPD group, anxiety and depression were more prevalent in males with highly significant statistical differences for anxiety between males and females (p .004) and non-significant differences for depression. In (COPD) group, it was found that anxiety and depression have strong negative correlation with pulmonary function and strong positive correlation with the age, smoking index, number of exacerbations per year and duration of disease while in asthma and control groups the correlations were weak. Geographically, Anxiety and depression were more in AL-Khobar and Jeddah than Riyadh in asthmatic patients (P.01, 0.04) while no significant difference in geographical distribution in COPD and control. Conclusions: Asthma and COPD patients are prone to anxiety and depression more than normal populations, this lead to poor outcomes of both diseases. Summary at a glance: This study included 420 subjects divided into three groups: Group I asthmatic (150) patients, group II COPD patients (150) and control group contain (120) healthy subjects. All patients and healthy subjects were instructed to answer the questionnaire of HADS. Anxiety and depression scales were calculated with prevalence of each. Anxiety and depression were more common in people with asthma and COPD