Emotional aspects of functional abdominal pain

ABSTRACT

This study aimed at estimating the prevalence of anxiety and depressive disorders among a group of patients presenting to a gastroenterology clinic with recurrent or persistent abdominal pain as the main complaint, and for which no organic pathology was demonstrated. A one-stage case-identification method, using the Arabic version of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale [HAD], was adopted. The total prevalence rate of anxiety was 51% and that of depression was 37%. The percentage of those who suffered both anxiety and depression was 29%. This makes a total morbidity rate of 59% [51 + 37 - 29]. A higher morbidity rate of both anxiety and depression was recorded among females