The association of respiratory disorders and depression

Introduction: In the older population, one of the health concerns that are associated with comorbidity, impaired functioning, excessive use of health care resources, and increased mortality is a depressive disorder. One of the reasons why depression often passes unrecognized is co-morbidity. Several practice guidelines recommend that depression be evaluated in patients with medical illnesses.
The objective was to analyze the association of Respiratory disorders and Depression.
Materials and methods: This is a cross-sectional study conducted on a sample of 34 hospitalized patients at the Clinic of Pulmology and Alergology in Skopje. All participants were examined using a general questionnaire created for the purpose of the study, the existing medical records and the PHQ-9 Patient Depression Questionnaire(score ≥10 has a sensitivity of 88% and a specificity of 88% for depression). Results: Of the 34 patients, 70.58% were aged ≥60 years (50% ≥60 years and 20.58% 60-64 years); 14.7% 55-59, 8.8% 50-54 and 5.8% 32 years. In 50% of the patients, the PHQ-9 Depression Questionnaire score was ≥ 10, which indicates the presence of depressive symptoms.
Conclusions:These data suggest that depression risk is elevated among patients with respiratory disorders that point to a necessity of routine screening of depression in patients with respiratory disorders.
Key words:comorbidity-respiratory disorders-depression