Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2015 May;25(3):405-9.
doi: 10.3109/14397595.2014.962241. Epub 2014 Oct 8.

Prevalence and severity of depression and anxiety in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus: An epidemiologic study in Iranian patients

Masoumeh Kheirandish  1 , Seyedeh Tahereh Faezi, Pedram Paragomi, Maassoumeh Akhlaghi, Farhad Gharibdoost, Ashraf Shahali, Mahboubeh Ebrahimpour Fini, Mahmood Akbarian
Affiliations

Prevalence and severity of depression and anxiety in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus: An epidemiologic study in Iranian patients

Masoumeh Kheirandish et al. Mod Rheumatol. 2015 May.

Abstract

Objectives: We aimed to evaluate the prevalence of depression and anxiety in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and explore their association with demographic and clinical features.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 166 SLE patients in rheumatology center of Shariati hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences were enrolled. SLE disease activity index (SLEDAI) and Beck and Cattell inventories for evaluation of depression and anxiety were completed for each patient.

Results: The mean age of patients was 33.1 ± 11.1 years and 92.2% of them were female. Two patients (1.2%) had only depression (without anxiety), while 36 patients (21.6%) had only anxiety (without depression). Meanwhile, 105 patients (63.3%) had mixed depression-anxiety and 23 patients (13.8%) did not have either depression or anxiety. Mean daily dose of prednisolone and number of administered drugs did not show significant difference between different subgroups of patients. In assessment of clinical and therapeutic items, no significant correlation between severity of depression (P = 0.65) and anxiety (P = 0.36) with daily dose of prednisolone in SLE patients was observed. There was no significant association between SLEDAI and severity of depression or anxiety. Occupational status had significant correlation with severity of depression and anxiety (P = 0.005).On the contrary, no significant correlation between number of administered drugs and severity of depression and anxiety was present.

Conclusion: This study indicated the high prevalence of depression and anxiety among SLE patients and reinforced the need of a comprehensive psychiatric work-up in SLE.

Keywords: Anxiety; Depression; Systemic lupus erythematosus.

PubMed Disclaimer