Anxiety and Depression among Hypertensive Adults in Tertiary Care Hospitals of Nepal.

Abstract

Introduction: Cooccurrence of hypertension and depression/anxiety increases the chance of cardiovascular mortality and morbidity. Therefore, this study is aimed at assessing the prevalence of anxiety and depression and their association with hypertension among hypertensive adults in a tertiary care hospital in Kathmandu, Nepal.

Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted using a semistructured self-administered questionnaire based on Hamilton Anxiety and Hamilton Depression Rating Scale. The data was entered in EPI Data and analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics in SPSS version 22. P value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Results: A total of 260 individuals participated in the study, with a mean age of 42.6 years. About 46% of patients did not have any symptoms of depressed mood, and 73 (28.1%) of the participants experienced feelings of depressed mood only on questioning. Similarly, (151) 58.1% did not have feelings of guilt, and 48 (18.5%) participants who had the feeling of guilt had let people down. Among 260 respondents, most participants ((102) 39.2%) had mild symptoms of anxious mood, followed by (86) 33.1% participants with moderate symptoms. Only (4) 1.5% of participants had severe symptoms. Similarly, the majority of participants ((114) 43.8%) had a mild form of mental and emotional strain, followed by (72) 27.7% with moderate mental and emotional strain while (43) 16.5% had no mental and emotional strain. The occupation and marital status of the hypertensive individual was associated with anxiety and depression (P = ≤0.01).

Conclusion: In conclusion, anxiety and depression were common among patients with hypertension. Anxiety and depression were linked to some of the patients' sociodemographic and clinical features. This study demonstrates that treating hypertension alone is not enough to improve patients' quality of life; mental illness screening among chronically ill individuals is also required.