Depression and anxiety in subjects with chronic non‑communicable diseases

Background: Modern society is undergoing socio-cultural and economic transformations. Such changes lead to situations in which the human being has to choose between his health or practicality, directly affecting his quality of life. Pathologies with a high degree of morbidity such as depression, anxiety and chronic diseases immerse themselves in this equation, and are taking alarming proportions in society nowadays. Objectives: To identify the levels of depression and anxiety in individuals with chronic non-communicable diseases. Method: This is a cross-sectional and quantitative study, consisting of 23 young adults with 20-40 years old, hypertensive or with type 2 diabetes mellitus. The symptoms of depression and anxiety were evaluated using the Beck Depression Inventory and Beck Anxiety Inventory. Results: In hypertensive patients, the mean scores for the Depression Inventory were 15.0 and for diabetics 15.6. For the Anxiety Inventory the mean scores obtained for hypertensive patients were 11.6 and 8.1 for diabetics. For the most part, both groups were classified as without depression (43.48%) and mild depression (43.48%); And without anxiety (47.9%) and mild anxiety (34.8%). Significant differences (p = 0.050) were found only in the mean scores for the Beck Anxiety Inventory between groups. No significant differences were found between the sexes. Conclusion: We conclude that the studied sample, both hypertensive and diabetic patients, mostly present with depression and mild anxiety. And when compared between the sexes the women showed to be more vulnerable than the men.