ANXIETY IN CO MORBID MEDICAL CONDITION

Sims and Objective— The current study assessed associations between severity of anxiety and depression and presence of medical conditions in adults diagnosed with anxiety disorders. Method— One-hundred twenty four patients diagnosed with any anxiety disorders, grouped on the basis of presence or absence of any medical co morbidity, were rated for the severity of anxiety and depressive symptoms and on HADS and compared for their mean scoring. Results— Out of 124 total sample, 58 patients were found with comorbid anxiety disorder and medical illness and 66 patients with anxiety disorders alone. The mean HADS Anxiety score for without co morbidity was 10.78 ± 2.69 and for the group of co morbidity it was 12.84 ± 3.17 ( t value = 3.902, df= 122 and p value=.000). Where as the mean HADS Depression score for without co morbidity was 9.96  ± 2.40 and for the group of co morbidity it was 10.55 ± 1.85 ( t value = 1.493, df= 122 and p value=.138). Conclusions— Severity of anxiety symptoms was strongly associated with having medical co morbid conditions.