Depression and panic disorder as predictors of health outcomes for patients with asthma in primary care.
BACKGROUND
Depression and panic disorder are widely acknowledged as complicating factors in asthma patients. However, their impact on health outcomes in primary care patients is less well examined. This study prospectively evaluated the impact of depression and panic disorder on outcomes of primary care patients with asthma over 1 year.


METHODS
At baseline, 256 asthma patients from 43 primary care practices completed self-report questionnaires including the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ), the Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire (AQLQ), and a structured questionnaire evaluating asthma severity, hospitalisation and emergency visits. One year later, 185 (72.3%) patients completed the same questionnaire.


RESULTS
At baseline, 3.9% of patients suffered from major depressive disorder, 22.7% from minor depressive disorder, and 7.8% from panic disorder. In the year under evaluation, 17 patients (9.2%) received emergency home visits and 10 patients (5.4%) were admitted to a hospital. Depression at baseline predicted hospitalisation within the subsequent year (OR 6.1; 95% CI 1.5-24.6) and panic disorder predicted unscheduled emergency home visits (OR 4.8; 95% CI 1.3-17.7). Depression but not panic disorder predicted the AQLQ scales activity (p=0.001), symptoms (p=0.001), emotions (p=0.001) and environment (p=0.001) at follow-up.


CONCLUSIONS
Although rates of hospitalisation and emergency visits in primary care are low, the impact of psychiatric comorbidity on health outcomes for patients with asthma is substantial. It might be helpful to identify patients with psychiatric comorbidity by analysing reasons for hospitalisation and emergency visits. For these patients, intensifying care with psychiatric interventions might help to reduce inappropriate healthcare utilisation and avoid adverse outcomes.
Department of General Practice and Health Services Research, University Hospital, University of Heidelberg, Vossstrasse 2, 69115 Heidelberg, Germany. antonius.schneider@med.uni-heidelberg.de
Antonius
A
Schneider
Bernd
B
Löwe
Franz Joachim
FJ
Meyer
Kathrin
K
Biessecker
Stefanie
S
Joos
Joachim
J
Szecsenyi
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001249:Asthma / Q000523:psychology*; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000209:etiology*; D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D005194:Family Practice / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016584:Panic Disorder / Q000209:etiology*; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011788:Quality of Life; D016896:Treatment Outcome