Tehran University Medical Journal

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This study was carried out to examine the comorbidity of depression and anxiety disorders.
Materials and Methods: 261 depressed (n=153) and anxious (n=108) patients were psychiatrically interviewed, and then tested by two scales, BAI and BD1 261 healthy subjects (matched with depressed and anxious patients) completed BAT and BDl as well.
Results: The results showed that %55.6 of depressed and %58.3 of anxious patients had respectively a comorbid anxiety and depression disorders.
Conclusion: The detection of symptoms overlap revealed that depressed patients experienced most of the anxiety symptoms, and anxious patients reported most of the depression symptoms. The prevalence of depression and anxiety symptoms among healthy subjects will be discussed.

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Background: The relationship between skin, neuron system and mental status is complicated. Pemphigus is severe and painful autoimmune skin disorder that occurs in 0.5-1 person in 100000. Regarding the critical role of mental status in autoimmune diseases such as pemphigus, the aim of this research was to investigating psychiatric comorbidity in patient with pemphigus.

Methods: This research was a descriptive survey study. The society of this research included the patients with pemphigus referred to Razi Dermatology University Hospital in Tehran. Participants were 200 persons who were selected through available sampling. Finally, 198 persons filled out the demographic questionnaire and symptom checklist-90 (SCL-90).

Results: This research showed that the prevalence of psychiatric disorders in this sample was 62.62%. 28.78% (57 persons) of patients were male and 33.84% (67 persons) were female. In both genders the symptoms of paranoia were the most prevalent disorders (45% in female and 60% in male) and phobia was the least prevalent in our sample (8.2% in female and 24% in male). The upper grade in education, the less prevalent disorders. 81.45% of participants with mental disorders were married and 18.55% of them were single. Of patients only 26.32% had visited the psychiatrist or psychologist and 95.15% of them had used medications. This research also showed that there was a significant difference between two genders. Men showed higher rate of prevalence in psychiatric symptoms than women.

Conclusion: The results showed that psychiatric disorders in patients with pemphigus are high compared to general population. This research congruent with other researches showed that higher age, lower grade of education and marriage related to worse prognosis in psychological status in patient with pemphigus. Thus dermatologists must recognize and manage these psychiatric comorbidities to treat patients effectively and to improve the quality of life in patients with autoimmune diseases such as pemphigus.