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Collateral damage: depressive symptoms in the partners of COPD patients
Andriana I Papaioannou1, Stamatoula Tsikrika, Konstantinos Bartziokas
13rd Respiratory Medicine Department, Sismanogleion General Hospital, Sismanogleiou 1 Str, 15126, Athens, Greece.
Background:
Depression is a frequent comorbidity in COPD patients and is associated with greater physical impairment, increased health-care utilization, and worse outcomes. The presence of depressive symptoms in the partners of COPD patients has not been evaluated.
Methods:
We evaluated the partners of 230 consecutive COPD patients included in a prospective study. Depressive symptoms were evaluated using Beck's Depression Inventory (BDI) on the first day of admission for COPD exacerbation. Patients were followed-up for 1 year.
Results:
Significant depressive symptoms were present in 39.6 % of the COPD patients and in 40.9 % of their partners. Beck scores were higher in the partners of patients with severe airflow obstruction and in those with ≥2 exacerbations and ≥1 hospitalizations for COPD exacerbation during the 1-year follow-up. The BDI score of the patients' partners was significantly correlated with the BDI score of the COPD patients (r s = 0.422). In multivariate analysis, depressive symptoms in the COPD patients were an independent predictor of depressive symptoms in their partners (OR 4.136, 95 % CI 1.991-8.594; p < 0.001).
Conclusions:
A large proportion of the partners of COPD patients present significant depressive symptoms. The identification of those patients and their partners represents a possible target for intervention.
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