RISK OF DEVELOPING DEPRESSION AND ITS IMPACT ON QUALITY OF LIFE IN PATIENTS WITH POLYCYSTIC OVARY SYNDROME – A SOUTH INDIAN SCENARIO

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is one of the most common reproductive endocrine disorders, affecting the patient’s psychological functioning and satisfaction with life. Settings and Design: Tertiary care hospital based case-control study was conducted. Material and Methods: the study was effectuated in 372 patients in total, including an equal number of cases and controls.PHQ-9 was used to determine the depression based DSM-IV directly diagnostic criteria for depression and PCOSQS was used to assess the quality of life. Statistical analysis used: Data was examined using descriptive statistics, spearman co-relation, Chi-square test, and odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI). Results: The study shows an increased risk of depression in PCOS (76.96% of cases compared to 20.03% of controls), Odd’s ratio 5.95 (95% confidence interval [3.818 to 9.351]) and the depression was found to be having an impact on patient’s quality of life. Conclusions: The care of individuals with PCOS should include the screening and possible treatment for depression in order to achieve and sustain treatment goals considering the fact that Identifying depression early will further improve the quality of life of PCOS patients and also reduce the overall treatment cost, which are generally unaffordable by most individuals with this disease in India.