Glassopharyngeal Neuralgia and Depression: Cause or Co-Morbidity

Abstract

  Glassopharyngeal neuralgia is a painful disease which affects the ninth cranial nerve. Depression is a serious medical condition which affects the way a person thinks and acts in a negative way. In this prospective study, we evaluated 30 patients with glossopharyngeal neuralgia clinically who came to department of ENT in Datta Meghe medical college, Nagpur.

   . The mean age of participants was 47.5 years and of patients was female. Using, DSM -5 diagnostic criteria , depression was present in 63.33% (19/30)(p value <0.0005) of patients with glossopharyngeal neuralgia. Among these 30 cases 56.6% (17/30) had essential hypertension, 30% (8/30) had diabetes malleitus and 23.3%(7/30) were hypothyroid.

Thus concluding that glossopharyngeal neuralgia and depression are closely related to each other anatomically and physiologically. Therefore, all clinician treating patients with glossopharyngeal neuralgia should consider a possibility of them developing depression and treat them accordingly.