Depression, Anxiety and Alcohol Abuse in a Gastroenterology Intensive Care Unit: Prevalence and Detection

OBJECTIVES: To assess depression, anxiety, and alcohol abuse in a Gastroenterology ICU, and the level of its detection by the staff. METHOD: All patients consecutively admitted to the ICU during a six-month period, 18 or above, and staying ≥ 24 hours, were assessed with the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and the CAGE. Doctors and nurses assessed the type and severity of patients’ morbidity. Data were analyzed with Student’s t-test, Pearson’s and Spearman’s correlations for ordinal variables, chi-square for nominal variables, and multiple logistic regression. RESULTS: The 65 patients assessed had a mean age of 57, and were predominantly male (58.5%), married (72.3%), and retired (53.8%); 27.7% had a psychiatric history, 24.6% were on psychotropic drugs, and 32.3% had an alcohol intake above standards. Anxiety and depression HADS scores ≥ 8 were present in 29.2% and 35.4% of the patients, respectively; 20%, mainly men, scored positive on the CAGE. Women had significantly higher anxiety scores (=.012) than men but did not differ in depression. A psychiatric history was significantly associated with higher anxiety (p<.001) and depression (p=.007) scores, as well as being on psychotropic drugs regularly (p<.001; p=.03, respectively). Doctors diagnosed somatic illness in 48.8%, and somatic illness with psychiatric co-morbidity in 51%; for nurses the rates were, respectively, 41.5% and 58.6%. Doctors’ and nurses’ detection of psychiatric disorders were significantly associated with the HADS anxiety scores (p=.013; p=.001, respectively), and doctor’s detection with depression (p=.046) scores. There were no significant associations between nurses’ detection of psychiatric disorders and depression, and between both professional groups detection and alcohol abuse. CONCLUSION: High prevalence of depression, anxiety, and alcohol abuse in Gastroenterology ICU was confirmed. However, the level of detection by the staff was low and mainly when anxiety symptoms were present.