Effect of depression and anxiety on quality of life among cardiovascular patients visiting Tertiary Care hospital Lahore

Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are the leading cause of death worldwide. Mental disorders like anxiety and depression are common among cardiovascular patients. These mental disorders have adverse effect on quality of life (QoL) among these patients which further increases mortality and morbidity among them Objective: The propose of this study was to assess the effect of anxiety and depression on quality of life among cardiovascular patients Methods: A cross sectional study was performed at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital Lahore. 100 patients of CVD were selected by non-probability sampling technique. All patients of both genders aged above 18 years with diagnosed CVD were included. In order to measure the anxiety and depression among cardiovascular patients, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and WHOQOL was used to assess the QoL of patients Results: Out of total 100 patients, there were 47 females and 53 males. Patients mean age was 54.87 ± 16.66. Among CVD patients, 52 were borderline cases and 33 were abnormal cases of anxiety. 56 cases were borderline and 28 were abnormal cases of depression. Anxiety and depression had adverse effect on QoL among CVD patients. Low scores were found for physical, psychological and environmental domains of WHOQOL. A significant association was found between social relationships domain of  WHOQOL with anxiety and depression and the level of significance was p-values 0.016 and 0.043 respectively. There was significant association between psychological domain of QoL with depression (P=0.039) and monthly income (P=0.016). There was insignificant association between educational level, sex, age with QoL, anxiety and depression Conclusions: Study concluded that anxiety and depression have negative impact on QoL and are risk factors for health-related QoL among CVD patients. Persons attending medical care are usually not being assessed for anxiety due to lack of facilities, lack of understanding of disease and over burden of patients. They are responsible for greater mortality and morbidity in CVDs. The depression and Anxiety are the mediating factors and it must be taken into consideration in clinical practices when QoL is considered as a clinical prerequisite