Application and value of anxiety and depression scale in patients with functional dyspepsia

BMC Psychol. 2024 Apr 30;12(1):244. doi: 10.1186/s40359-024-01744-3.

Abstract

Background: Patients with functional dyspepsia (FD) cannot be assessed for their mental health using a suitable and practical measure. The purpose of the study is to investigate the usefulness of several anxiety and depression scales in patients with FD, offering recommendations for clinical identification and therapy.

Methods: From September 2021 to September 2022, patients were sought and selected. The psychological symptoms were assessed using ten depression or anxiety questionnaires. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, Spearman analysis, Pearson correlation analysis, and single factor analysis were applied.

Results: Prospective analysis was performed on 142 healthy individuals and 113 patients with FD. In the case group, anxiety and depression symptoms were more common than in the control group, and the 10 scales showed strong validity and reliability. HAMD had the strongest connection with the PHQ-9 score on the depression scale (0.83). The score correlation between SAS and HAMA on the anxiety analysis scale was the greatest at 0.77. The PHQ-9, SAS, HAMD, and HAMA measures performed exceptionally well in detecting FD with anxiety or depression symptoms (AUC = 0.72, 0.70, 0.70, 0.77, and 0.77, respectively).

Conclusions: PHQ-9, SAS, HAMD, and HAMA scales have good application performance in FD patients. They can assist gastroenterologists in evaluating anxiety and depression symptoms, and provide reference and guidance for subsequent treatment.

Keywords: Anxiety symptoms; Assessment; Depression symptoms; Functional disease; Functional dyspepsia.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Anxiety* / diagnosis
  • Anxiety* / psychology
  • Depression* / diagnosis
  • Depression* / psychology
  • Dyspepsia* / diagnosis
  • Dyspepsia* / psychology
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Prospective Studies
  • Psychiatric Status Rating Scales* / standards
  • Psychometrics
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Surveys and Questionnaires / standards