The psychological impact of inflammatory bowel disease as regards anxiety and depression: a single-center study

Background Patients suffering from inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) are not systematically screened against depression as well as anxiety, although there are high prevalence and adverse influence on the quality of life. The aim of this work was to determine generalized anxiety disorder and major depressive disorder prevalence in patients with IBD, and the secondary objective was to identify patient properties linked to higher psychiatric disorder rates. Results We determined anxiety and depression prevalence in 105 IBD patients (82 having ulcerative colitis and 23 suffering from Crohn’s disease) through a psychiatric interview using the Arabic version of Structured Clinical Interview for DSM IV Axis I diagnosis (SCID I), in addition to severity assessment of major depressive disorder and generalized anxiety disorder using the Hamilton Depression Scale (HAM-D) and the Hamilton Anxiety Scale (HAM-A), respectively. Patient data, disease characteristics, and drug information were also gathered. We found a high depression prevalence of 56.2% (n = 59), followed by 37.1% (n = 39), with no significant association between IBD severity and anxiety and depression severity. Conclusion Depression and/or anxiety affected a large number of IBD patients. Such psychiatric disorders’ frequency would warrant detection as well as referral to psychiatric treatment.