TY - JOUR T1 - Letter to the editor: authors’ response JF - Thorax JO - Thorax SP - 490 LP - 491 DO - 10.1136/thoraxjnl-2014-206708 VL - 70 IS - 5 AU - Alexandra L Quittner AU - Dave Barker AU - Lutz Goldbeck AU - Alistair Duff AU - Janice Abbott Y1 - 2015/05/01 UR - http://thorax.bmj.com/content/70/5/490.1.abstract N2 - Dear editorsWe thank Drs Webb and Bryon for their comments1 on our TIDES paper.2 We are responding to their critiques of our study. Beyond clarifying the ‘devilish details’ they highlighted, we want to emphasise the clinical significance of our results2—a substantial proportion of our patients reported elevated symptoms of depression (17%) and anxiety (29%) across nine countries. Higher rates were reported by parents: depression (37.3% of mothers, 31.3% of fathers) and anxiety (47.8% of mothers, 35.2% of fathers). Although the ‘absolute’ number of individuals who have depression or anxiety is difficult to ascertain with any screening tool, it is clear that psychological distress is common and has been associated with worse: self-management, pulmonary function, quality of life, and increased hospitalisations and healthcare costs.3 ,4 We can no longer minimise the extent of the problem and its impact on the health of individuals with CF.Our response to the ‘details’: First, 6088 participants completed the depression and anxiety screening, with a small … ER -