Prevalence and Associated Factors of Depression among Admitted Adult Patients in Surgical and Medical Wards of Saint Paul’s Hospital Millennium Medical College, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Abstract

Background. Depression is a leading cause of major public health problems globally, and its prevalence has been increasing, particularly in low- and middle-income countries including our country. Therefore, this study is aimed at exploring depression symptoms and their determinants among admitted medical and surgical patients which is important to get optimal care for patients. Methods. An institution-based cross-sectional study was conducted from May to June 2019, on adults’ medical and surgical admitted patients at Saint Paul’s Hospital Millennium Medical College, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The systematic random sampling technique was used to get a total of 590 samples. The standardized hospital anxiety and depression scale (HADS) was used to assess individual depression symptoms. We computed the bivariate and multivariate binary logistic regression analyses to identify factors associated with depression symptoms. Statistical significance was declared at P < 0.05 . Result. The prevalence of depression symptoms was found to be 53.9% (95% CI: 50.2, 57.0). In the multivariable logistic regression, female sex ( AOR = 2.04 , 95% CI: 1.35, 3.09), being single ( AOR = 3.65 , 95% CI: 3.48, 2.10, 5.78), widowed ( AOR = 2.82 , 95% CI: 1.27, 6.30), unable to read and write ( AOR = 2.71 , 95% CI: 1.14, 6.47), admission at medical ward ( AOR = 1.59 , 95% CI: 1.02, 2.46), history of mental illness ( AOR = 1.59 , 95% CI: 1.02, 2.46), and poor social support ( AOR = 2.82 , 95% CI: 1.57, 5.11) were factors significantly associated with depression symptoms. Conclusion. The prevalence of depression symptoms among admitted patients was high. Female sex, being single, widowed, unable to read and write, admission at medical ward, history of mental illness, and poor social support were factors significantly associated with depression symptoms. It is better for the Ministry of Health to give training on how to screen depression among medical and surgical patients, and interventions that would be addressing the awareness of the above factors would be beneficial to prevent further complications.

Magnitude and factors associated with preoperative depression among elective surgical patients at University of Gondar comprehensive specialized hospital, North West Ethiopia: A cross-sectional study

“…Being a widower or widowed and divorced was greater than three times more likely to have depression. This was consistent with other studies carried out in other parts [ 30 , 31 ], china [ 34 ] and Uganda [ 35 ]. The possible explanation might be Divorce and widowed are associated with significant risk of emotional distress, including clinically-significant psychological depression the reason might also be the sociocultural attitude and norms of less respecting the divorced and widowed, being single has also psychological impact, probability of losing the next chance of marriage.…”

“…Respondents with history of poor social support, in our study were another significant factor to develop depression. This result was supported by other studies in Berlin [ 30 ] and Germany [ 39 ]. The possible explanation could be being scheduled for surgery is stressful condition in which they might think of morbidity and mortality so, patients need strong social support both in psychological makeup and resource.…”

“…The reason might be sociocultural variation, difference site of ward admitted, type of patents and difference study population. However, the magnitude of depression in our study was quite low compared to studies conducted among hospital admitted patients [ [29] , [30] , [31] ]. The variation in the above rates might be due to age of participants, the use of various scales and rating for assessing the level of depression and types of admission site.…”

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“…of depression (21). As different studies showed symptoms and frequency of depression differ between societies' backgrounds, and these are thought to be associated with cultural, genetic, and environmental factors (22).…”