PSYCHIATRIC COMORBIDITY AND QUALITY OF LIFE IMPAIRMENT IN ALCOHOL DEPENDENCE: A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY FROM A TERTIARY CARE COHORT

Objective: The objective of the study is to determine the prevalence and pattern of anxiety and depression in patients with alcohol dependence syndrome (ADS) and to examine their association with quality of life (QoL) domains in a tertiary-care cohort. Methods: This cross-sectional observational study enrolled 171 male patients diagnosed with ADS at a tertiary care center in India. Psychiatric morbidity was assessed using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), and QoL was measured using the World Health Organization QoL-BREF. Analyses included descriptive statistics, Mann–Whitney U and Kruskal–Wallis H tests, chi-square test for association between anxiety and depression severity, Spearman rank correlations, and multiple linear regression modeling. A comparative synthesis of published studies (2020–2025) was used to contextualize prevalence estimates. Results: Using the standard HADS abnormal cut-off (≥11), abnormal anxiety was observed in 41.5% (n=71) and abnormal depression in 43.8% (n=75). When HADS caseness was defined as score ≥8, anxiety and depression caseness were present in 59.65% (n=102) and 59.06% (n=101), respectively, with comorbid anxiety–depression in 42.11% (n=72). Anxiety and depression caseness showed a significant association (χ2=13.88, p