Anxiety and depression in patients with self-reported food hypersensitivity

作者：Lillestol Kristine^*; Berstad Arnold; Lind Ragna; Florvaag Erik; Arslan Gulen; Tangen Tone

来源：General Hospital Psychiatry, 2010, 32(1): 42-48.

DOI：10.1016/j.genhosppsych.2009.08.006

• Anxiety disorders
• Depression
• Food allergy
• Food hypersensitivity
• Irritable bowel syndrome

Objective: Self-reported food hypersensitivity (SFH) is common. Psychological factors are assumed to be associated. We assessed anxiety and depression in SFH patients, using both questionnaires and interview.
Methods: Consecutive patients (n=130) and randomly selected healthy volunteers (n=75) completed the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), the neuroticism scale of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ-N) and the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ). Seventy-six of the patients were also interviewed by use of the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview and the Montgomery-Aasberg Depression Rating Scale. All patients underwent extensive allergological, gastroenterological and dietary examinations.
Results: According to interviews, 57% of patients fulfilled the DSM-IV criteria for at least one psychiatric disorder. Anxiety disorders (34%) and depression (16%) predominated. According to questionnaires, patients scored significantly higher than controls on all psychometric scales except for depression (HADS). We also found an underreporting of depression in HADS compared with interviews (2.5% vs. 16%, P=.001). Food hypersensitivity was rarely confirmed by provocation tests (8%). Eighty-nine percent of the patients had irritable bowel syndrome.
Conclusions: Anxiety and depression are common in patients with IBS-like complaints self-attributed to food hypersensitivity. Anxiety disorders predominate. In this setting, depression may be underreported by HADS.

• 出版日期2010-2
• 单位河北医科大学