A CROSS SECTIONAL STUDY TO DETERMINE THE INCIDENCE OF ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION AMONG THE PATIENTS SUFFERING FROM BRONCHIAL ASTHMA

Objective: The objective of this study was to determine the incidence of anxiety and depression among the patients suffering from bronchial asthma. Study Design: Observational / cross sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: This study was conducted at the Department of Medicine of Allied Hospital, Faisalabad from November, 2018 to October, 2019. Materials and Methods: Total 250 patients with Mean age of 45.5 ± 7.5 years were included. The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) were used to assess anxiety and depression. Results: Total 190(76%) patients had anxiety and 160(64%) had depression.140 (74%) male patients and 50(81%) female patients had anxiety and 122 (65%) male patients and 38(59%) female patients had depression. Note that anxiety and depression were not significantly associated with sex (P = 0.3925 and 0.464). Total 150(60%) people belonged to rural areas, 100(40%) patients belonged to urban areas. The anxiety was observed in 134 (89%) and 56 (56%) patients belonged to rural and urban patients, respectively. The prevalence of depression in urban patients was 71 (71%), and the prevalence of depression in rural patients 89(89%) was observed in our study, the difference was not statistically significant (P = 0.0617). In this study, 113(45%) patients were educated and 137(55%) were uneducated. The anxiety and depression were noted in 69(61%) and 51 (45%) among educated patents, respectively. Among the uneducated patients, the anxiety rate was 121(89%) and the depression rate was 109(79%). P value was highly significant (P = 0.001, 0.001) was observed in the association between anxiety and depression. Conclusion: The results of this study show that the incidence of anxiety and depression in asthma patients is high. Male or female asthma patients equally suffer from anxiety and depression. Rural residents and uneducated people have higher rate of anxiety and depression as compared with urban and educated people. Keywords: Mental disorders; Asthma; Anxiety; Depression; Severe; Chronic