Psychiatric Co-morbidities Among Patients of Globus Hytericus Attending ENT OPD of a Tertiary Care Hospital.

ABSTRACT

Globus hystericus is a functional esophageal disorder, contributes a significant portion of ENT referral. Severe incapacitating symptoms of globus invariably compromise their quality of life which is further hampered by associated psychiatric co-morbidities. But in literature, conflicting results were reported regarding the pattern of psychiatric co-morbidities. Method: In an observational cross sectional study 53 consecutive consenting patients (N=53) of globus diagnose by criteria of R E Clouse, attending to the Department of ENT of tertiary care hospital of Eastern part of India were referred to Psychiatry OPD and screened for psychiatric comorbidities using Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI) English Version 5.0.0 and confirmed by Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition, Text Revision (DSM-IV-TR). Result: 79.25 % (n=42) of globus patients had psychiatric co-morbidities which was significantly higher (p<0.05, odds ratio 14.02) than their relatives attending with the patients. Among the patients of globus, 32.01% (n=17) had multiple diagnoses. Major depressive disorder was found in 43.04% (n=23), obsessive compulsive personality disorder in 16.98% (n=9), undifferentiated somatoform disorder in 13.21% (n=7), generalized anxiety disorder and panic disorder with agoraphobia each in 9.43% (n=5), borderline personality disorder in 7.55% (n=4), obsessive compulsive disorder and dysthymia each in 3.77% (n=2) and hypochondriasis in 1.89% (n=1). No association was found between presence of psychiatric morbidity and socio-demographic variables of the globus patients. Conclusion: Burden of psychiatric co-morbidities among the patients of globus is quiet high. So, they should be regularly screened for psychiatric illness and an integrated treatment approach can be taken for them to get the opportunity of effective psychopharmacological and behavioral approaches.