[Prevalence of Mood and Anxiety Disorders on People with Chronic Conditions. Results from the National Mental Health Survey in Colombia 2015].

INTRODUCTION

The study of mental disorders in people with chronic conditions recognises the importance of actively seeking and treating both, since chronic conditions have a higher prevalence than mental disorders and their comorbidity generates greater burden than if each one was considered separately.

OBJECTIVES

To measure the prevalence of mood disorders and anxiety in a Colombian population of 12 years and older and with and without different chronic conditions.

METHODS

The information is taken from the National Mental Health Survey 2015 in Colombia, which was an observational cross-sectional study with national representativeness for the age groups measured 12-17, 18-44, and 45 and older. Disorders measured where mood disorders and anxiety social phobia, generalised anxiety disorder, and panic disorder in the past 12 months, and several chronic conditions. Univariate and bivariate analyses were performed for these conditions.

RESULTS

The highest prevalence of mood and anxiety disorders were found in people with gastrointestinal diseases, followed by those with chronic pain, heart, and lung diseases, which corresponded to 27.1%, 13.3%, 12.2%, and 11.5%, respectively, in those between 18 and 44 years old, and 15.9%, 12.2%, 8.0%, and 7.4% of those 45 and older, respectively. This was greater than the prevalence of these mental disorders in people with no chronic condition, where the prevalence is 3.5% in the younger, and 1.1% in the older group. However, the risk of these mental disorders is higher in older people. Thus, in those with gastrointestinal diseases when compared to people of the same age without any chronic condition the prevalence is 14.9 times higher, but for the same disease in the younger group it is 7.8.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings link chronic conditions with a higher prevalence of mental disorders, which in the present study also highlights the greater comorbidity of mood and anxiety disorders in the elderly.