Impact of Cognitive Dysfunction in the Middle East Depressed Patients: The ICMED Study

Abstract

Background:Major depressive disorder is a common condition with a high rate of recurrence, chronicity, and affecting economic burden, including disability in the workplace, which leads to negative consequences on both individuals and society.Objectives:This study aimed to estimate the impact of cognitive dysfunction, as declared by the patient, on performing daily tasks/activities among patients with major depression disorder (MDD).Methods:This investigation is based on multinational cross-sectional survey of 499 workers recruited from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and United Arab Emirates (UAE). We assessed the severity of depression by Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS). Impact of Depression in the Workplace in Europe Audit (IDEA) survey and trial making test (TMT) parts A and B were used to assess the impact of cognitive dysfunction on performing daily tasks/activities in adult patients presented with MDD.Results:A total of 499 persons were included in this study, aged 18–66 years, current workers and managers. Of them, 17.8% were normal (remitted), 22.4% were mildly depressed, 23.4% were moderately depressed, 8.6% were severely depressed, and 27.7% were very severely depressed at the time of the study according to HDRS. Common symptoms attributable to depression were low mode or sadness (89.8%), followed by insomnia (75.2%) and crying (70.9%). Of them, low mode or sadness was the most common factor affecting the work performance (90.2%). About 66.3% of participants diagnosed with depression by a doctor/medical professional. Awareness of the disease was recognizable by patients’ managers in only 31.9% of the cases. Furthermore, 45.3% of cases had taken off work due to depression with mean duration of 38.7 (95% CI 37.7 to 39.7) days. The mean TMT parts A and B score were 69.2 (95% CI 66.3 to 72.2) and 126.6 (95% CI 121 to 132), respectively. Lastly, a significant positive correlation between the mean score for HDRS and TMT-A and B scores was observed.Conclusion:Depression affects work productivity and work environment with negative consequences to countries’ economy. Awareness of depression in the workplace in KSA and UAE is still suboptimal. The personal and societal burden of this issue cannot be neglected when we become aware of the proportion of affected people.

Depressive symptoms and their sociodemographic determinants among people living with HIV/AIDS in Bangladesh: a cross-sectional study

“…This study revealed that participants whose monthly household income was less were at higher risk for depression; similar findings were reported by a study conducted at three hospitals in Ethiopia, which found that income less than 200 birr's was associated with depression (Gupta et al, 2010). This could be because people in low-income countries are under pressure to rely on academics due to poverty-related factors, which leads to increased domestic work and a lack of access to health education and awareness (Al Jarad et al, 2018). Deshmukh et al conducted a study that backs up this claim (Deshmukh et al, 2017).…”

Anxiety and Depression Among Women Living with HIV: Prevalence and Correlations

“…The reason could be that in low-income countries, women are pressured to default academics for poverty-related factors, which later result in their more prominent engagement on domestic work, as well as the lack of access to health education and awareness. This is ascribed to the possible negative interaction between mental disorders ( e.g ., depression) and poverty, primarily because, in principle, people with depression commonly perform poorly in their daily tasks [ 32 ]. Moreover, a number of studies carried out in high-income countries revealed that people with social and economic disadvantages are more likely to develop depression [ 33 ], indicating the substantial relationships between social adversity, HIV, and depression.…”

Depressive symptoms and their sociodemographic determinants among people living with HIV/AIDS in Bangladesh: a cross-sectional study

“…Jarad et al, 2018). Deshmukh et al conducted a study that backs up this claim(Deshmukh et al, 2017) Dorsisa et al (2020).…”