title: Psychiatric morbidity in chronic respiratory disorders in an Indian service using GMHAT/PC.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The study aimed to assess psychiatric morbidity in stable chronic respiratory disorders and to examine the pattern of psychiatric illness in specific respiratory disorders in Northern India.
  
  
  METHODS
  All consecutive patients with stable chronic respiratory illnesses who attended the respiratory disease clinic were recruited in the study. Their healthy attendants were interviewed as a control group. The research clinician, trained in the use of the Global Mental Health Assessment Tool, Primary Care Version (GMHAT/PC), interviewed all the participants. The respiratory consultant made the respiratory illness diagnosis. The data were analyzed comparing the patient and the control group by using relative risk and adjusted odds ratios.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of 391 patients with respiratory illness, 44.8% had a mental illness identified by GMHAT/PC interview compared with 24.3% of 177 attendants (controls). Anxiety (20.6%), depression (13.2%) and obsessive compulsive disorders (4.6%) were the most frequently identified mental disorders in the respiratory disease group. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and bronchial asthma when combined with rhinitis had a significantly higher prevalence of comorbid mental illness than those illnesses alone.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Patients with chronic respiratory illness have high mental health comorbidity. Physicians and practitioners can be trained to identify mental illness using computer-assisted tools such as GMHAT/PC (which is easy to use by clinicians and well accepted by patients). A holistic approach of providing care to such patients may improve their overall outcome and quality of life.
authors.affiliation: Division of Allergy and Pulmonary Medicine, SMS Medical College Hospital, Jaipur, India.
authors.forename: Bharat Bhushan
authors.initials: BB
authors.lastname: Sharma
authors.forename: Sheetu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.forename: Vimal Kumar
authors.initials: VK
authors.lastname: Sharma
authors.forename: Manoj
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Choudhary
authors.forename: Virendra
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.forename: Steven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lane
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lepping
authors.forename: Murali
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Krishna
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Copeland
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology; D001249:Asthma / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002908:Chronic Disease / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D015897:Comorbidity; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D017563:Lung Diseases, Interstitial / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009771:Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D029424:Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D012140:Respiratory Tract Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D065631:Rhinitis, Allergic; D012221:Rhinitis, Allergic, Perennial / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology