Objective: To investigate physicians' perceptions and current practices of identifying and managing depression in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
Design: A cross-sectional online survey was employed between March and September 2022.
Settings: Saudi Arabia.
Participants: 1015 physicians, including general practitioners and family, internal and pulmonary medicine specialists.
Primary outcome measures: Physicians' perceptions, confidence, practices and barriers to recognising and managing depression in patients with COPD.
Results: A total of 1015 physicians completed to the online survey. Only 31% of study participants received adequate training for managing depression. While 60% of physicians reported that depression interferes with self-management and worsens COPD symptoms, less than 50% viewed the importance of regular screening for depression. Only 414 (41%) physicians aim to identify depression. Of whom, 29% use depression screening tools, and 38% feel confident in discussing patients' feelings. Having adequate training to manage depression (OR: 2.89; 95% CI: 2.02 to 3.81; p<0.001) and more years of experience (OR: 1.25; 95% CI: 1.08 to 1.45; p=0.002) were associated with the intention to detect depression in COPD patients. The most common barriers linked to recognising depression are poor training (54%), absence of standard procedures (54%) and limited knowledge about depression (53%).
Conclusion: The prevalence of identifying and confidently managing depression in patients with COPD is suboptimal, owing to poor training, the absence of a standardised protocol and inadequate knowledge. Psychiatric training should be supported in addition to adopting a systematic approach to detect depression in clinical practice.
Keywords: chronic airways disease; emphysema; respiratory medicine (see thoracic medicine).
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