Maqbool Ahmad Khan, Irum, Taimoor.
Anxiety and Depression in Patients Attending Institute of Dentistry CMH Lahore.
Ann Pak Inst Med Sci Jan ;11(1):17-20.

Objective: There is a need to assess anxiety and depression in patients visiting dental outdoors to improve empathy in health professionals. Study Design: Cross-sectional descriptive study. Place and Duration of Study: The study was conducted in the OPD of Institute of Dentistry CMH, Lahore Medical College for duration of six months from January to June 2014. Materials and Methods: Patients were screened with the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) in the clinical setting of Dentistry OPD of CMH Medical College, Lahore. This was an observational cross sectional study carried out to find out frequency Anxiety and Depression in patients visiting Out Patient Department of institute of dentistry for dental treatment. Data was analyzed by using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS-19). Sample: The sample of 80 patients aged 15 to 75 years, suffering from different dental complaints were selected by quota sampling technique from the OPD of Institute of Dentistry CMH for duration of six months. Patients were surveyed by using a specific history Performa. Written informed consent was obtained from study participants. Results: The statistical analysis of results revealed that prevalence of anxiety and depression is 22.5% and 11.2% in whole sample respectively. The further analysis across age and gender highlight the gender differences in anxiety and depression as female gender has high prevalence of both variables as compared to males. The number of the cases of anxiety and depression are more prevalent in age range of 15 to 25 years as compared to other age groups and gradually decrease with increasing age. Conclusion: The findings of current study determine the prevalence of anxiety and depression in a sample of dental outdoor patients. Acquiescence with dental treatment is affected by emotions of the patients. Emotions could thus become pathological when they play a role in clinical situations. These observations highlight the need, that dentist should be able to make an accurate screening and recognize the patients with dental complaints who may suffer from psychiatric disorders like anxiety and depression in order to enhance patient’s compliance towards treatment.

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