TITLE:
Association between Depression and Social Demographic Factors in a Nigerian Family Practice Setting
AUTHORS:
R. O. Shittu, L. O. Odeigah, B. A. Issa, G. T. Olanrewaju, A. O. Mahmoud, M. A. Sanni
KEYWORDS:
Depression; Social Demographic Factors; Nigerian; Family Practice Setting
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Depression,
Vol.3 No.1,
January
28,
2014
ABSTRACT: Objectives: Although
depression is one of the more common illnesses in outpatients’ clinic, it is
often overlooked. Besides accurate identification and treatment is challenging.
As pertinent as demographic factors are in explaining the variability of
depressive symptoms, there is paucity of data in Nigeria in particular, and
West Africa in general, hence the need to bring into lime light the association
between depression symptoms and socio-demographic factors in a General
Outpatients Clinic in Nigeria, West Africa. Methods: Following institutional ethics committee approval,
four hundred newly registered patients who attended the General Out Patients
Department (GOPD) of Kwara State Specialist Hospital, Ilorin, Nigeria, were
selected by systematic random sampling and studied. The Patients Health Questionnaire-9
(PHQ-9) specifically developed for use in primary care with acceptable
reliability, validity, sensitively was used. Association between each
socio-demographic factor and depression was sought. Results: One hundred and seventy eight (44.5%) out of the four
hundred respondents were found to have one form of depression or the other.
There was minimal depression in 119 (29.8%), mild in 54 (13.4%), moderate in 2
(0.5%), and severe in 3 (0.8%). There was strong statistical association
between depression and age group, sex, marital status, level of education,
occupation and monthly income, p-values 0.008, 0.000, 0.000, 0.003, 0.000,
0.001 respectively. However, religion (p = 0.541) and ethnicity (p = 0.567) were of no statistical importance. Conclusion: The
prevalence of depressive symptoms among patients attending family practice
clinics was high. There was also strong association between depression and
socio-demographic factor. Family physician should have high index of suspicion
to patients with vague somatic complaints and the aforementioned
socio-demographic factors. Early detection of depression can be enhanced by
screening patients for this disorder, when they attend the hospital for other
reasons.