Effectiveness of Pharmaceutical Care about the Quality of Life in Patients with Depression

Abstract

Depression is a disorder characterized by the predominance of anhedonia and empty. On account of being a disorder with high prevalence and being a major cause of disability, this study was proposed that aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of pharmaceutical care through the pharmacotherapeutic follow-up and its correlation with quality of life. The patients were followed for eight months through telephone contacts and presidential meetings. The pharmacist evaluated depressive symptoms, adherence, quality of life and the need for pharmaceutical intervention. The instruments used were: Dader method, PHQ - 9, Beck Anxiety Inventory, Morisky Test et al. and Quality of life - SF-36. The data were analyzed in Bioestat 5.0 software using the Wilcoxon test, comparing the depressive symptoms, anxiety and quality of life before and after the Pharmacotherapeutic follow-up; and Pearson Correlation to determine if there is a correlation between depressive symptoms and quality of life. It obtained a statistically significant reduction in depressive symptoms (p-value: <0.0001) and anxious (p-value: <0.0001). There was a statistically significant improvement (p <0.05) in quality of life, demonstrated in all dimensions of SF-36. By performing the correlation between depressive symptoms and quality of life, it was observed that as depressive symptoms decrease the quality of life improves [r Pearson) = 0.6911, p = 0.0007]. They were carried out several pharmaceutical interventions to increase adherence, reduce treatment, abandonment and provide health education to patients. These interventions were carried out in the form of oral communication between pharmacist-patient and pharmacist-patient-doctor. The Pharmaceutical Care was effective in reducing depressive and anxiety symptoms and improve the quality of life of patients with depression.