Anxiety and depression in medical inpatients

Objectives: This study aimed to identify potential association between demographic factors, clinical characteristics and anxiety and depression levels of patients hospitalized in internal medicine and surgical clinics. Method: This descriptive cross-sectional study was performed with 298 inpatients at Erzincan State Hospital's internal diseases and surgical units within March 2006 and May 2006. Inclusion criteria comprised of being at the age of 18 or over, being able to communicate and cooperate with the researchers, having been hospitalized for at least 2 nights, being conscious, and not to having any severe pain. The data were collected using descriptive questionnaire and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). The data were analyzed using the Independent Samples t-tests, analysis of variance, Kruskall Wallis and Pearson correlation tests. Findings: According to HADS scores, it was determined that 36.6% of the patients had symptoms of anxiety, while 61.4% of the patients had symptoms of depressed, and despite the high prevalence of anxiety and depression and the only 16 (5.5%) patients were referred for psychiatric consultation. There were no significant differences in scores of anxiety and depression among different education levels, marital status, and duration of hospitalization. Discussion: In this study, a very high number of hospitalized patients require psychiatric evaluation for anxiety and depression. Depression and anxiety are common in medical patients and are associated with diminished health status and increased health care utilization. However, many physicians pay more attention to physical problems than psychological problems. Nurses can assist patients in acquiring new methods of coping with anxiety and depression through learning.