Emotional and cognitive dysfunction associated with medical disorders

The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), General Health Questionnaire-30 (GHQ-30) and the Mini Mental Status Examination (MMSE) were administered to 335 randomly selected hospitalized medical patients. Thirty-six percent showed depressive symptomatology as measured by the BDI, 61% showed emotional dysfunction on the GHQ-30, and 28% evidenced cognitive dysfunction on the MMSE. Each patient's medical status was described according to 13 disease categories. Patients with neurological, respiratory, and bone and connective tissue disease had the most cognitive dysfunction on the MMSE. Patients with cancer and bone and connective tissue disease had the greatest amount of emotional dysfunction as measured by the GHQ-30. Patients with gastro-intestinal disease, cancer, and bone and connective tissue disease had the greatest amount of depressive symptomatology. For cancer, this increased depressive symptomatology is the result of a higher number of somatic but not affective and cognitive symptoms on the BDI. Interview based data is needed to confirm these preliminary findings.