Free Papers Compiled: A comparative study on quality of life in major depressive disorder patients with and without comorbid anxiety

BACKGROUND: Most studies focus on the comorbidity of physical disease with depression rather than comorbidity of other mental disorders like anxiety. On comparing patients with Major depressive disorder (MDD) alone, comorbidity of anxiety in MDD is strongly associated with poorer quality of life, poorer prognosis,greater recurrence.Therefore it is important to investigate the impact of comorbidity on quality of life to improve treatment outcome and prognosis. AIM: To assess the quality of life in Major depressive disorder (MDD) patients with and without comorbid anxiety. METHODS: Study setting : The study conducted in outpatient department of psychiatry, tertiary care centre. Sample size: 60 30 patients with drug naive MDD alone. 30 patients with drug naive MDD with comorbid anxiety. Study design: Cross Sectional Study. Study period : June to September 2021 Scales used: WHOQOL-BREF, Hamilton Anxiety rating scale, Hamilton depression rating scale. RESULTS: Compared to those with MDD alone , the mean scores on Physical and Psychological domains of WHOQOL-BREFscale significantly lowered in MDD with comorbid anxiety patients . CONCLUSION: The association between comorbid anxiety may exacerbate impaired physical and psychological quality of life in MDD ,so it is important to assess comorbid anxiety earlier and provide appropriate treatment to improve quality of life in patients with MDD.