Anxiety and depression in general practice outpatients: the long-term change process

Figures & data

Figure 1 Outline of the respondents.

Abbreviation: HADS, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale.

Table 1 Survey item at each stage

During initial consultation	Medical record	During telephone interview
HADS	Age	HADS
	Sex	Presence of new symptoms/diseases after having consulted with the Department
	Number of days from the initial consultation to the telephone survey (range)	Continued presence of symptoms which the subject complained about during the initial consultation
	The period from the onset of symptoms present at the initial consultation to the initial consultation (%)	Has the participant been “doctor shopping” after our examination?
	ICPC-2 Code P status during the final diagnosis at the Department

Abbreviations: HADS, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale; ICPC-2, International Classification of Primary Care revised second edition.

Table 2 Baseline characteristics of each group (n=121)

Factor		Anxiety/Depression (n=56)	Control (n=65)	P-value
Age, n (range)		67.5 (30–87)	70.0 (21–86)	0.307
Age, n (%)	≥65 years	33 (58.9)	46 (70.8)	0.186
Sex, n (%)	Female	35 (62.5)	32 (49.2)	0.199
Number of days from the initial consultation to the telephone survey, n (range)		1094.5 (1007–1295)	1093.0 (981–1332)	0.956
The period from the onset of symptoms present at the initial consultation to the initial consultation, n (%)	Chronic	50 (89.3)	51 (79.7)	0.211

Table 3 Results of evaluation items (n=121)

Factor		Anxiety/Depression (n=56)	Control (n=65)	P-value
Doctor shopping behavior, n (%)	Yes	9 (16.1)	4 (6.2)	0.139
Final diagnosis of our department, n (%)	Code P (+)	25 (44.6)	15 (22.7)	0.012*
New symptoms or disease, n (%)	Emergence	26 (46.4)	29 (44.6)	0.857
Symptom at the time of the first medical examination, n (%)	Persistence	30 (46.4)	38 (58.5)	0.713
HADS score from the telephone survey, n (%)	High	37 (66.1)	15 (23.1)	<0.001*

Note:

* P<0.05.

Abbreviation: HADS, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale.

Figure 2 Correlation between the initial consultation and the telephone survey.

Abbreviation: HADS, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale.

Table 4 Impact of factors on prolongation of anxiety/depression

Univariate analysis
Factors	Prolongation rate	P-value
Age
≥65 years	75.8%	0.089
<65 years	52.2%
Sex
Female	62.9%	0.572
Male	71.4%
Duration of disease
Acute	40.0%	0.324
Chronic	68.6%
Doctor shopping-behavior
No	61.7%	0.146
Yes	88.9%
Final diagnosis
Code P (−)	61.3%	0.571
Code P (+)	72.0%
New symptoms
None	60.0%	0.399
Emergence	73.1%
Past symptoms
Persistence	80.0%	0.025
Disappear	50.0%
Multivariate analysis	Odds ratio (95% CI)	P-value
Age
≥65 years	4.360 (1.16–16.40)	0.029
<65 years	1
Past symptoms
Persistence	5.720 (1.51–21.70)	0.010
Disappear	1