New research out of Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre in Los Angeles has found one in three hospitalized patients experiences symptoms including feeling hopeless, having little interest in activities and problems eating and sleeping.
“One thing we notice is when people have down moods, they’re actually less likely to take care of themselves,” said Dr. Waguih IsHak, lead author of the study. IsHak says patients with depressive symptoms are less likely to take medication or keep up with outpatient appointments.
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“The end result is more frequent emergency department visits because their health deteriorates, and then they tend to stay longer in hospital…later on because their situation becomes a little more complicated.”
Dawn Mendenhall says she’s not surprised by the study’s findings.
The Calgary woman suffers from diabetes, endometriosis and polycystic ovarian syndrome. She has experienced lengthy hospital stays on several occasions. Feeling depressed, she says, has impacted her care.
“During my hospital stay, I actually got up and walked out, because I was so upset and so depressed and so angry. I didn’t care that I still had an IV in my arm – I just wanted to go home.”
IsHak believes patients would benefit from routine depression screening and treatment.
“We know that depression is a serious factor in any patient’s recovery; these findings show that hospitals might experience improved outcomes by initiating a depression-screening program.”
The study is published in the Journal of Hospital Medicine.