Patient Interest in Mental Health Screening by Endocrinologists

Endocrine disorders often coexist with mental health issues. Little is known about patient beliefs regarding endocrinologists' involvement in mental health screening. We studied the beliefs of patients with endocrine disorders regarding endocrinologists' asking about mental health and whether patients perceive that endocrinologists are capable of recognizing mental health concerns.

This was a cross-sectional survey of 500 adults with endocrine disorders with either diabetes mellitus or glandular diseases of the thyroid, adrenal, pituitary, or gonads conducted at a public hospital endocrinology clinic near New York City. Depressive symptoms were measured with the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 scale and anxiety symptoms were measured with the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 scale.

More than half of those surveyed expressed interest in their endocrinologist asking about mental health, depression, anxiety, and/or psychosocial stress. The belief that an endocrinologist can determine whether a patient has mental health issues, depression, anxiety, and psychosocial stress had mean values between neutral and agree. Patients who wanted their endocrinologist to ask about these topics had significantly (all analyses P < 0.001) greater depressive and/or anxiety symptoms than those who did not want their endocrinologist to ask about these topics.

Many patients with endocrine disorders want endocrinologists to ask about their mental health. We recommend that endocrinologists consider incorporating mental health screening for depression and anxiety into routine patient care because many patients would welcome this approach.