Frequency of depression,anxiety and stress in patients referred for endoscopy with symptoms of dyspepsia

Objective: this study was aimed to see the frequency of anxiety,depression and stress in patients with dyspeptic symptoms referred for endoscopy. design: cross sectional study. setting: department of medicine & psychiatry baqai medical university,fatima hospital,gadap,karachi. duration: the study was conducted from jan 2011 to jun 2011 method: patients referred from department of medicine with symptoms of dyspepsia were assessed at department of psychiatry baqai university before endoscopy. a total of 40 patients,fulfilling the inclusion criteria were enrolled for the study and their demo-graphic variables were obtained using a performa specially designed for this purpose. urdu version of dass (depression anxiety stress scale) was administered to the selected sample to establish the presence of three emotional states--anxiety,depression and stress. the dass is a 42-item self report instrument designed to measure the three inter-related negative emotional states of depression,anxiety and tension/stress. the findings are mentioned in the results. results: a total of 40 patients comprising 29 females and 11 males ranging between 15-70 years of age with a mean age of 32.8 years completed the study. in the studied sample of 40 patients,82.5% had anxiety,60% had depression and 67.5% had stress. moreover 80% of sample group were found to have inflammatory changes on endoscopy and in this group anxiety was the most prominent emotional state. in the remaining 20% who had no inflammatory findings on endoscopy,depression,anxiety and stress were equally prevalent. conclusion: emotional disturbances in the form of anxiety,depression and stress were frequently seen in patients suffering from dyspepsia and anxiety was the most dominant among these three negative emotional states. evaluation of anxiety in the management of dyspepsia is suggested.