Assessment of depression and anxiety symptoms in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients: A case–control study

BackgroundCOPD patients have to deal not only with the physical consequences of the disease, but they must also deal with the psychological consequences of COPD. Anxiety and depression are highly prevalent co morbidities in COPD.ObjectiveTo assess the symptoms of depression and anxiety in COPD patients and to correlate between the severity of the anxiety and depression with the severity of the COPD.Subjects and methods80 COPD patients were assessed using SCID for establishing psychiatric diagnosis, Beck depression inventory for assessment of the severity of depressive symptoms, Hamilton anxiety scale for the severity of anxiety symptoms, Spirometry and arterial blood gases for assessing the severity of COPD; and were matched to 80 healthy controls.ResultsThe patient group showed higher statistically significant difference in the presence of psychiatric illness (55%, p = 0.001), anxiety level (22.5%, p = 0.06), depression level (42.5%, p = 0.0001), and substance abuse (15%, p = 0.035). Anxiety and depressive scores were significantly associated with the severity of COPD (p < 0.001). Anxiety score correlated with age (r = −0.267), and PaO2 (r = 0.326). Depression score correlated with FEV1 (r = −0.262).ConclusionThis study proves the association between COPD and symptoms of anxiety and depression. The severity of anxiety and depression were correlated with the severity of COPD and the presence of lower PaO2. Age, sex, duration of illness and previous ICU admission or mechanical ventilation did not correlate with depression or anxiety symptoms.