The relationship between anxiety, depression and illness perception in tberculosis patients in Pakistan

As the rates of TB world over have increased during the past 10 years, there has been a growing awareness of depression and its role in the outcome of chronic disorders. Though depression is common in patients with TB no study as yet has examined the prevalence of depression in this group in Pakistan. We aimed to determine the presence of depression, anxiety and illness perceptions in patients suffering from Tuberculosis (TB) in Pakistan.

108 consecutive outpatients with tuberculosis completed the Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale (HADS) and the Illness Perception Questionnaire (IPQ).

Out of 108 patients, 50 (46.3%) were depressed and 51 (47.2%) had anxiety. Raised depression and anxiety scores were associated with an increase in the number of symptoms reported (HADS Depression: r = 0.346, p = < 0.001), more serious perceived consequences (HADS Depression: r = 0.279, p = 0.004, HADS Anxiety: r = 0.234, p = 0.017) and less control over their illness (HADS Depression: r = 0.239, p = 0.014, HADS Anxiety: r = 0.271, p = 0.005).

We found that about a half of patients in our sample met the criteria for probable depression and anxiety based on HADS score. Negative illness perceptions were clearly related to reports of mood symptoms. As depression and lack of perceived control over illness in those suffering from tuberculosis are reported to be independent predictors of poor adherence further studies to investigate their relationship with medication adherence are required.