Assessment of depression and anxiety in patients with chronic liver disease

Introduction: In previous years, mental health of the patients including those with chronic liver disease (CLD), becomes interesting because their disturbance leads to reduced quality of life and it is associated with worsening of clinical outcome, reduced compliance and increased mortality. Aim: The aim of the study was to determinate the frequency and severity of depression and anxiety in patients with CLD, and to assess the contribution of different factors to depression and anxiety scores. Methods: In a cross sectional study, we performed Hamilton depression rating scale (HDRS) and Hamilton anxiety rating scale (HARS) in patients with CLD. Results : We include 54 male and 43 female patients. Depression was present in 62.9%, and anxiety in 13.4% patients. A higher HDRS is noted for the patients with >50 years (p = .022) and unemployed patients (p = .043). Patients who had at least one episode of gastrointestinal bleeding, had significantly higher frequency of anxiety than patients without bleeding (p = .018). Higher HARS score is present in women (p = .011), unemployed patients (p = .008) and patients with non-alcoholic liver disease (p =.007). There was significant correlation between mean corpuscular volume (MCV) and the value of the HDRS score, and between serum potassium and sodium, and HARS score. Conclusion: The age and MCV have significant influence on the HDRS score while employment, gastrointestinal bleeding, serum potassium and serum sodium have predictive value for HARS score.