Frequency of Comorbid Depression in Patients with Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Abstract

Background: Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is often comorbid with depression, and the association of this overlap with poorer quality of life, functional impairment, and treatment complexity.

Objective: To examine the prevalence of comorbid depression in GAD patients and its relationship to selected demographic and clinical features.

Materials and Methods: The study was descriptive cross sectional of six months’ duration from November, 2025 to April, 2026 in Department of Psychiatry, Dr Ruth KM Pfau Civil Hospital Karachi. The number of patients with GAD (N = 180) were recruited by consecutive sampling between the ages of 18 and 60 who met the criteria of the DSM-5 for GAD. The PHQ-9 was used to measure depression with a score ≥10 considered clinically significant. SPSS 26 was used to analyze the data.

Results: The mean age was 37.6±10.8 years; 57.8% were female. 78 (43.3%) patients had comorbid depression. Female gender, longer duration of GAD and previous psychiatric treatment were significantly associated with depression (p<0.05).

Conclusion: Depression is a very common comorbid condition in GAD, and should be screened for routinely in the treatment of anxiety.