Frequency of depression and anxiety among patients with chronic spontaneous urticaria visiting a tertiary care hospital in Karachi, Pakistan

OBJECTIVE To determine the frequency of anxiety and depression among chronic spontaneous urticarial patients presenting at a tertiary care hospital. METHODS The prospective, cross-sectional study was conducted at the Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, from February to August 2015, and comprised patients diagnosed with chronic spontaneous urticaria at the dermatology clinic. All the participants were assessed for anxiety and depression using Aga Khan University-Anxiety Depression Scale. Data was collected in face-to-face interview using a structured questionnaire. The association of the condition with different characteristics were calculated after stratification for age, gender, occupation and monthly income. SPSS 19 was used for data analysis.. RESULTS Of the 146 study participants, 84(57.5%) were males and 62(42.5%) were females. The overall mean age was 39±15.6 years. Of the total, 39(26.7%) had depression and anxiety. Depression and anxiety were more frequent among patients with a positive family history of mental disorders (p=0.02). Conclusion Anxiety and depression were found to be considerably common among chronic spontaneous urticaria patients, with patients having a positive family history for mental illnesses particularly vulnerable.