Abstract: Background: Occurrence of respiratory symptoms with everyday life, including simple home chores or even walking, causing depression and anxiety. Asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are common chronic lung diseases in Pakistan. However, local literature is scarce regarding depression and anxiety prevalence. Objective: To determine depression and anxiety prevalence in obstructive lung diseases, including asthma and COPD, and explore its correlation with spirometry. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted at the outpatient clinics of Pulmonology, Indus Hospital & Health Network Karachi, from January 2025 to May 2025. The Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) and General Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) were used to measure depression and anxiety, respectively. Spirometry evaluation included forced expiratory volume in the first second (FEV1), forced vital capacity (FVC), and the FEV1/FVC ratio. Result: A total of 118 participants were included with a mean age of 50.6 ± 6.8 years. Most of the patients were females (54.4%). Asthma and COPD were seen in 64.4% and 35.6%, respectively. Prevalence of depression and anxiety in COPD patients was 90.5% and 62%, respectively. While the prevalence of depression and anxiety in asthma patients was 85.5% and 59%, respectively. Asthma and COPD patients did not differ on the basis of depression and anxiety prevalence. For asthma patients, there was no significant correlation of depression and anxiety score with lung function. For the COPD cohort, no significant correlation was found between lung function and anxiety score. In COPD patients, a significant weak negative correlation was seen for depression score and FEV1% (r=-0.319, p=0.040), FVC (r=-0.411, p=0.007), and FEV1/FVC ratio (r=-0.345, p=0.025). Conclusion: Anxiety and depression are common in people with obstructive lung disease who also have asthma or COPD. This result emphasizes the necessity of routinely screening for anxiety and depression in order to alleviate the psychological burden among patients with COPD and asthma. Furthermore, a strong inverse link between depression and lung function measures highlights the need for continuous treatment plans to take psychological factors into account in order to enhance COPD therapy. Keywords: Asthma, Anxiety, Chronic obstructive lung disease, Depression, Mental Health, Pulmonary disease.
Nabeel et al. (Mon,) studied this question.