Assessment of Anxiety and Depression by Three Psychological Screening Scales in Functional Dyspepsia Patients

Background: Psychological disorders are common in patients with functional dyspepsia(FD).It is important to assess the abnormal psychological status in patients with FD for understanding the mechanism of dyspepsia symptoms,guidance of therapy and assessment of efficacy.Aims: To compare the consistency of Hamilton anxiety/depression scale(HAMA/HAMD),self-rating anxiety/depression scale(SAS/SDS) and Rome Ⅲ psychosocial alarm questionnaire(RPAQ) as screening tools for detection of anxiety/depression in FD patients.Methods: Patients met Rome Ⅲ diagnostic criteria of FD from Nov.2008 to Apr.2010 at Peking Union Medical College Hospital were enrolled.HAMA and HAMD were assessed by a well trained physician,SAS,SDS and RPAQ were completed by patients themselves following the instruction.Results: A total of 134 patients with FD were enrolled in this study.The detection rate of anxiety by HAMA was significantly higher than that by SAS and RPAQ(72.4% vs.24.6%,31.3%,P0.05).The detection rate of depression by HAMD was similar to that by SDS(47.0% vs.44.0%,P0.05),and was significantly higher than that by RPAQ(47.0% vs.20.9%,P0.05).The overall coincidence detection rate by SDS and HAMD was 73.1%.When evaluated by HAMA/HAMD,patients with severe FD were found to have a higher comorbidity of anxiety/depression.About half of FD patients with moderate to severe anxiety/depression labeled by HAMA/HAMD could not be identified by SAS and RPAQ.Conclusions: Anxiety and depression are found to be more common in FD patients by HAMA/HAMD,the difference of detection rate with different screening scales may be resulted from the difference in items included in these scales.