Prevalence of Depression and Psychological Distress and Perturbations of Cortisol Dynamics in Attendants of Hospitalized Patients: An Observational Pilot Study

Background: Attendants of in-hospital patients are prone to undue stress resulting in depression, anxiety, melancholy and psychological distress. Hitherto available studies cater to attendants of patients admitted in critical care units and none have ventured to look into their cortisol dynamics. Herein, we have evaluated the magnitude of psychological distress and depression amongst ostensibly healthy attendants of non-critically ill patients and correlated them with cortisol dynamics. Methods: Non-critically ill patients admitted to the general medicine ward were chosen by purposive sampling and one attendant was selected from each patient. Those with known risk factors, psychiatric illnesses, chronic drug intake, addictions, and overweight/obesity were excluded. Psychological distress and depression were assessed using the General Health Questionnaire 12-items (GHQ-12) and the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), respectively. Morning plasma cortisol, late-night plasma cortisol (LNPC), late-night salivary cortisol (LNSC), urinary free cortisol (UFC), and plasma cortisol after overnight 1 mg dexamethasone administration were measured. Results: After exclusion, 39 participants were recruited (M:F=2.3:1.6). The mean age was 34.1±11.4 years. The mean duration of stay in hospital ambience prior to recruitment was 16.2±1.2 days. Based on the PHQ-9 score, 55% of the participants had depression. Psychological distress prevailed in 13% of participants as per the GHQ-12 score. The median LNPC/LNSC was higher in participants with depression compared to those with no depression, however, there was no statistically significant difference. There was no significant correlation between GHQ-12/PHQ-9 scores and cortisol dynamics. Conclusions: Although depression is prevalent in about half of the patient attendants, cortisol dynamics remain largely unaltered over a short period of two to three weeks.