Psychiatric Department, Sotiria General Hospital of Chest Diseases, Athens, Greece.
Ann Gen Psychiatry. 2010 Apr 14;9:16. doi: 10.1186/1744-859X-9-16.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a major health problem, especially in adults over 40 years of age, and has a great social and economic impact. The psychological morbidity of COPD patients with regard to anxiety and depressive symptoms has been extensively studied in the past. However, few studies have investigated the prevalence of alexithymia in these patients, as well as its association with this comorbidity. Based on this fact, we studied the prevalence of alexithymia and its association with anxiety and depressive symptoms in COPD outpatients.
The present study included 167, randomly selected, outpatients diagnosed with COPD. Alexithymia, anxiety and depression were assessed using the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), Spielberger Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), respectively.
The mean BDI score was 12.88 (SD: 7.7), mean STAI score 41.8 (SD: 11.0) and mean TAS-20 score 48.2 (SD: 11.5). No differences were observed between genders regarding age and alexithymia (t test P > 0.05), while female patients presented higher depression and trait anxiety scores than males (t test P < 0.05). Clinically significant levels of anxiety were present in 37.1% of men, and in 45.7% of women. The mean depression score was also higher than the corresponding mean score in the general population (one-sample t test P < 0.01), while 27.7% and 30.5% of the sample presented mild and moderate to severe depression, respectively. Finally, a strong correlation was observed between alexithymia, depression and anxiety.
This study confirms the high prevalence of anxiety and depression symptoms in Greek outpatients with COPD. The prevalence of alexithymia in COPD patients, contrary to what has been observed in patients with other chronic respiratory diseases, seem to be lower. However, we observed a strong association between alexithymia, depression and anxiety levels. This observation suggests that alexithymia should be taken into consideration when drafting specific psychotherapeutic interventions for these patients.
慢性阻塞性肺疾病（COPD）是一个主要的健康问题，尤其是在 40 岁以上的成年人中，对社会和经济都有重大影响。过去，人们广泛研究了 COPD 患者的焦虑和抑郁症状的心理发病率。然而，很少有研究调查这些患者的述情障碍的患病率，以及它与这种合并症的关系。基于这一事实，我们研究了 COPD 门诊患者述情障碍的患病率及其与焦虑和抑郁症状的关系。
本研究纳入了 167 名随机选择的被诊断为 COPD 的门诊患者。使用多伦多述情障碍量表（TAS-20）、斯皮尔伯格特质焦虑量表（STAI）和贝克抑郁量表（BDI）分别评估述情障碍、焦虑和抑郁。
BDI 平均得分为 12.88（标准差：7.7），STAI 平均得分为 41.8（标准差：11.0），TAS-20 平均得分为 48.2（标准差：11.5）。性别在年龄和述情障碍方面无差异（t 检验 P > 0.05），而女性患者的抑郁和特质焦虑评分高于男性（t 检验 P < 0.05）。37.1%的男性和 45.7%的女性存在明显的焦虑症状。平均抑郁评分也高于一般人群的相应平均评分（单样本 t 检验 P < 0.01），而样本中 27.7%和 30.5%分别为轻度和中重度抑郁。最后，述情障碍、抑郁和焦虑之间存在强烈的相关性。
本研究证实了希腊 COPD 门诊患者焦虑和抑郁症状的高患病率。与其他慢性呼吸系统疾病患者相比，COPD 患者的述情障碍患病率似乎较低。然而，我们观察到述情障碍、抑郁和焦虑水平之间存在强烈的关联。这一观察结果表明，在为这些患者制定特定的心理治疗干预措施时，应考虑述情障碍。
