No abstract

Objective: To determine the frequency and association of depression among caregivers of psychiatric patients. Study Design: Cross-sectional study. Study place and duration: Outpatient Department of a Tertiary Care Hospital, Rawalpindi, from Sep 2016 to Apr 2017. Methodology: A total of 200 caregivers of psychiatric patients were included in this study. Each caregiver was interviewed by a consultant psychiatrist to measure the frequency of depression according to International Classification of Disease-10 (ICD10) criteria and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) score of >8. Socio-demographic factors were associated with presence of depression by using chi-square test. Results: The mean age observed was 35.36 ± 8.39 years. There were 84 (42%) males and 116 (58%) females. Depression was found in 95 (47.5%) caregivers of psychiatric patients in our analysis. Female gender, low socio-economic status and type of psychiatric illness had significant relationship with presence of depression among our target population. Conclusion: Depression was a highly common undiagnosed entity among the caregivers of psychiatric patients. Female caregivers or caregivers with low socio-economic status should be screened especially for depression in addition to caregivers of patients suffering from psychotic illness.

Objective: To compare the metabolic outcomes in psychiatric patients treated with Olanzapine and Risperidone. Study Design: Quasi experimental study. Place and Duration of Study: The study was conducted at Armed Forces Institute of Mental Health, Rawalpindi,from Aug 2016 to Jan 2017. Methodology: In this study 114 newly diagnosed psychiatric patients taking atypical anti-psychotics were selected and placed randomly into two groups i.e. group A (Olanzapine) andgroup B (Risperidone), 57 patients each. Patients of either gender, 20 to 60 years’ age, clinically diagnosed new cases having psychiatric illness using DSMV were selected consecutively. Baseline and six months’ end study data were collected and compared. Results: Total 14 out of 109 (5 patients lost follow up) patients developed metabolic syndrome. Among these 10(18.18%) were in group A while 4 (7.41%) were in group B. Patients receiving Olanzapine were 2.58 times moreprone to develop metabolic syndrome compared to the Risperidone receiving [RR= 2.58 {C.I. 0.85009, 7.62703}].Weight gain (p-value = 0.0048), increased Waist circumference (p-value = 0.00867) and elevated Blood Pressure (pvalue = 0.0563) were seen more significantly with use of Olanzapine. Conclusion: Olanzapine although associated with good efficacy but indeed with more serious and long-term side effects like impaired blood glucose tolerance, dyslipidemia and increase weight. Psychiatrist must screen and continuously monitor such patients.

No abstract