Psychiatric problems in patients with diabetes mellitus attending a diabetes clinic at a tertiary care hospital in Eastern Nepal

摘要

Diabetes mellitus (DM), a chronic disease is frequently comorbid with psychiatric problems/disorders. Identification and management of comorbid psychiatric problems are important for the management of diabetes itself. We lack studies in this regard though we have many patients with diabetes in Nepal. This study aims to determine the prevalence of psychiatric disorders in patients suffering from and seeking help from diabetes clinic. This is a hospital-clinic based prevalence study. The study analyzed response to "General health questionnaire GHQ-12" in 200 (calculated sample size) consecutive patients with diabetes attending a diabetes clinic. Diabetes mellitus diagnosis was made based on ?American Diabetic Association? (ADA) guidelines, 2009. Psychiatric disorders were screened with self-response questionnaire ?GHQ-12? which provides overall score, the score of 2 or more considered as achieving ?psychiatric caseness? indicating overall psychiatric disorder. Among 200 clinic diabetes patients, 136 (68%) had GHQ-12 score of 2 or more, i.e. ?psychiatric caseness?. By alternate scoring, 15 (7.5%) had severe (25-36), 105 (52.5%) moderate (13-24), 71 (35.5%) mild (1-12) and the rest 9 (4.5%) had nil symptomatology. Among GHQ-12 items, ?felt that you couldn?t overcome your difficulties? was the most scored (39.0%), followed by ?felt constantly under strain? (37.5%). Psychiatric problem is common among patients with diabetes. Diabetes management should involve diagnosis and treatment of comorbid psychiatric disorders.