Extent of depression among gastrointestinal tract symptoms in medical outpatient clinic of al-Hussein Teaching Hospital in al-Nasiriya city in 2018

Background: Depression is one of the most common mental health conditions in the general population as well as in clinical practice. In clinical studies, there is a strong relationship between gastrointestinal symptoms and depression and the gastrointestinal symptoms remain for longer time and are more serious than in patients without depression. Objective: To estimate the extent of depression in gastrointestinal tract symptoms in medical outpatient clinic attendees. methods: The study was a cross-sectional analytical study for 154 adult population in the Al-Hussein teaching hospital in Nasiriya city , conducted at first March 2018 and completed at end of September 2018. Tools of the method were questioner and for diagnosis of depression was used Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fourth edition (DSM- IV) criteria. the refusal rate was zero and for statistical the analysis was used SPSS version 22. Result: The study showed that 43.5 % of subjects with gastrointestinal symptoms suffer from depression. depression was found in 40.7% of females and 47.1% of males. 50.0% of depressed patients were in two age groups of 20 -44 years and ≥ 65 years. Most depressed patients were suffering constipation (51.3%), change in appetite (51.3%), and change in weight(50.7%), where only change in appetite had a significant association with depression, were p-value=0.001. More depressed subjects had GI symptoms with one-month duration and ≥7 numbers of GIT symptoms. Recommendation: Raising awareness of the general population about the depression and relation of that with GIT symptoms.