title: Prevalence and severity of depression and anxiety in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus: An epidemiologic study in Iranian patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We aimed to evaluate the prevalence of depression and anxiety in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and explore their association with demographic and clinical features.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this cross-sectional study, 166 SLE patients in rheumatology center of Shariati hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences were enrolled. SLE disease activity index (SLEDAI) and Beck and Cattell inventories for evaluation of depression and anxiety were completed for each patient.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean age of patients was 33.1 ± 11.1 years and 92.2% of them were female. Two patients (1.2%) had only depression (without anxiety), while 36 patients (21.6%) had only anxiety (without depression). Meanwhile, 105 patients (63.3%) had mixed depression-anxiety and 23 patients (13.8%) did not have either depression or anxiety. Mean daily dose of prednisolone and number of administered drugs did not show significant difference between different subgroups of patients. In assessment of clinical and therapeutic items, no significant correlation between severity of depression (P = 0.65) and anxiety (P = 0.36) with daily dose of prednisolone in SLE patients was observed. There was no significant association between SLEDAI and severity of depression or anxiety. Occupational status had significant correlation with severity of depression and anxiety (P = 0.005).On the contrary, no significant correlation between number of administered drugs and severity of depression and anxiety was present.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study indicated the high prevalence of depression and anxiety among SLE patients and reinforced the need of a comprehensive psychiatric work-up in SLE.
authors.affiliation: Rheumatology Research Center, Shariati Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences , Tehran , Iran.
authors.forename: Masoumeh
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kheirandish
authors.forename: Seyedeh Tahereh
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Faezi
authors.forename: Pedram
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Paragomi
authors.forename: Maassoumeh
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Akhlaghi
authors.forename: Farhad
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Gharibdoost
authors.forename: Ashraf
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Shahali
authors.forename: Mahboubeh Ebrahimpour
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Fini
authors.forename: Mahmood
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Akbarian
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007492:Iran / Q000453:epidemiology; D008180:Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Anxiety; Depression; Systemic lupus erythematosus