A Study of Thyroid Dysfunction among Patients Diagnosed as Depressive Episodes Presenting in the Psychiatry OPD at a Tertiary Care Hospital in Pokhara.

Background The prevalence of thyroid dysfunctions is not clear in depression, and more studies are needed. Objective To find the prevalence of thyroid dysfunctions among patients diagnosed with depressive episodes. The second objective was to test the association between thyroid dysfunctions and different sociodemographic variables. Method The patients diagnosed with depressive episodes according to the International Classification of Disease - 10 Classification of Mental and Behavioural Disorders (Diagnostic Criteria for Research) were selected from the Psychiatry Out-Patient Department of Manipal Teaching Hospital, Pokhara. The pro forma was used to collect the socio-demographic profile of the patient. The serum sample of the 398 patients was sent for thyroid estimations. Result The overall prevalence of thyroid dysfunction was 13.07%. The mean age of the abnormal thyroid function patients was 44.88 years with a standard deviation of 13.39 years. Thyroid dysfunction was more prevalent in the socio-demographic variables like female gender and in the patients living in the rural area as compared to other variables, but in a statistically insignificant way. Conclusion The result shows that thyroid dysfunction is common in the patients with depression. Clinicians should screen every depressive patient for thyroid function. Further largerscale studies are needed before generalizing these results.