RESUMEN
BACKGROUND: Asthmatic patients present different degrees of anxiety and depression, being psychiatric pathologies the most frequent alterations related to this illness. In this country there is available information of asthma in children but just a few about adult patients. OBJECTIVES: To know the frequency of anxiety and depression in adult asthmatic patients, compare them with healthy individuals and determine their relationship with the severity of illness. PATIENTS AND METHODS: There were included asthmatic adults (GINA 2002) and as control group healthy individuals, using the HAD scale (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale) to determine the presence of anxiety and depression RESULTS: 120 patients participated, 60 in each group with a mean age of 34 years old in the group 1 (asthmatic) and 31 years old in group 2 (healthy individuals). The HAD scale results in group 1 showed that 30% of patients presented anxiety, and 8% showed depression; in group 2 18% had anxiety and 3% depression. There are more anxiety and depression in asthmatic patients than in healthy individuals, p < 0.05, correlation between depression and severity of asthma is r = 0.288. CONCLUSIONS: Anxiety is frequent in asthmatic patients, being less common the presence of depression but related with asthma severity. These results contrast with available information where up to 54% of asthmatic patient present anxiety and 30% depression, using the same scale HAD. It is necessary to identify these problems, with the object to give an integral an accurate treatment to the patient.
