Health-related quality of life and factors associated with depression among people with oculocutaneous albinism in Jinja , Uganda

Abstract

Background Depression is among the common psychiatric disorders with high prevalence in the general population across the world. Studies carried out on specific populations have shown that this prevalence is higher in vulnerable populations including people living with albinism. Despite the fact that several aspects linked with it have been found among people with oculocuteneous albinism in the Busoga region, data have remained unclear locally. Limited information is available regarding prevalence of depression, its associated factors and health related quality of life in the study area.The main objective of the present study was to determine the health related quality of life and factors associated with depression among people with oculocutaneous albinism in Jinja,Uanda. Methods A cross-sectional design was used to capture data from a study sample size of 384 adults living with oculocutaneous albinism who were involved in completion of the screening tests for depression Hopkins Symptom Checklist-25(HSCL-25).The summation of scores for depression were averaged and the probable depression determined for each participant using a cut-off of 1.75. Logistic regression analyses were used to examine associations between depression and associated factors. Dermatology life quality index (DLQI) was used to assess the health related quality of life.The DLQI was calculated by the summation of the score of each question resulting in a maximum of 30 and a minimumof 0.The higher was the score,the more quality of life was impaired. Results The analyses revealed that the prevalence of depression among people with oculocutaneous albinism in jinja city stands at 65.4 %. The risk of depression was significantly associated with age (AOR = 1.059, 95% CI = 1.020–1.100, P = 0.003), history of diabetes mellitus (AOR = 12.030, 95% CI = 1.117–12.961, P = 0.040) and taking chronically medication (AOR = 6.583, 95% CI = 1.618–26.782, P = 0.008).Family support (AOR = 0.505, 95% CI = 0.286–0.892, P = 0.019) and marital status (AOR = 0.505, 95% CI = 0.286–0.892, P = 0.019) were significantly protective factors.The mean Dermatology Life Quality Index scores was 14.55.Oculocutaneous albinism had no effect on the quality of life of only 5.7% of the participants. On the remaining 95% affected participants, 48.7% were largely affected. Conclusions These findings show that the estimated prevalence of depression among people with oculocutaneous albinism in the study area is high and worrying and oculocutaneous albinism highly impacts negatively the quality of life of people with oculocutaneous albinism. Strategies targeted at early interventions and ultimately depression prevention need urgent attention in order to reduce risk factors of the disease and improve the health related quality of life of People with oculocutaneous albinism in the study area.