RESULTS:
A total of 121 patients were included in this study between November
2017 and May 2019.The baseline socio-demographic and clinical variables
are presented in Table 1. The mean age of study participants was 54.9 ±
7.5 years. The predominant study participants were male [83.5% (95%
CI, 0.75-0.89)]. Nearly three-fourths of the patients were either
overweight or obese. The overall prevalence (95% CI) of depression in
the study population was 70.5% (0.61-0.78). On the other hand, anxiety
was present in 64.6% (0.55-0.73) of patients. When a cut-off score of
11 instead of 8 was used on the HADS for diagnosis of depression/
anxiety [Borderline cases excluded (HADS score 8-10)], the
prevalence of depression and anxiety was 31.3% (0.22-0.40) and 40.7%
(0.31-0.50) respectively. 51.2% (0.41-0.60) of patients had both
depression and anxiety. However, when borderline cases (HADS score 8-10)
were excluded, both depression and anxiety were present in 19%
(0.12-0.27) of patients. The prevalence and characteristics of patients
with depression and anxiety are presented in Table 2. Obese individuals
were more likely to have depression compared to those individuals with a
normal weight (OR 5.7; 95% CI, 1.2-25.5) [Table 3]. The odds of
anxiety were higher in patients with dyslipidemia (OR 5.3; 95% CI,
1.9-14.3) compared to those with absence of dyslipidemia (Table 3). The
relationship between physical activity and depression/ anxiety is shown
in Figure 1. Patients with low levels of physical activity had a higher
prevalence of depression and anxiety (p < 0.05). A similar
relationship was not observed in those with moderate and high levels of
physical activity. Patients with depression demonstrated a worse quality
of life compared to those without depression in all domains measured by
the SF-36 questionnaire (Figure 2). Among patients with anxiety, quality
of life was worse in four out of the eight domains (physical
functioning, vitality, mental health and general health measured by the
SF-36 questionnaire (Figure 2).