Prevalence of psychiatric disorders in cardiac outpatients

Abstract

This study aimed to determine the prevalence of psychiatric disorders in a sample of cardiac outpatients in Saudi Arabia. A semi-structured interview was performed for cardiac outpatients. Psychiatric diagnoses were confirmed by using a validated version of the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI). Of the 343 patients enrolled in the study, 93 patients (27.1%) met the criteria of having at least one psychiatric disorder. Past major depressive disorder (MDD) was the most prevalent disorder (14%), followed by current generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) (12.8%), and current MDD (8.5%). In multivariate logistic regression analyses, the diagnosis of psychiatric illness was more likely if the cardiac patient was divorced (odds ratio 6.139; 95% confidence interval, CI, 1.267-29.70), had a history of past psychiatric illness (odds ratio 2.828; 95% CI, 1.300-6.150), or currently smoked (odds ratio 2.106; 95% CI, 1.085-4.087). Psychiatric disorders were found to be common in cardiac outpatients, with MDD and GAD being the most prevalent.