A Cross-Sectional Descriptive Population-Based Study To Estimate The Prevalence Of Depression In An Urban Slum In Chennai City And The Associated Risk Factors

摘要

IntroductionDepression has been under diagnosed and under reported in primary care settings. Various illnesses and biopsychosocial factors have been implicated as the contributing factors for depression. The overall rate of depression has increased in recent decades; depression is now being seen at younger ages and with greater frequency worldwide.Very few studies have been done in the past to estimate the magnitude of the problem of depression in the community in India, particularly so in the urban slums.Method A cross sectional descriptive study was done. An urban slum in ward 131 of Chennai city was selected by using a simple random table, from among the 155 wards in the Chennai Corporation. 700 individuals who were aged between 15 and 65 years, from the urban slum of ward 131, were chosen by simple random sampling and were screened by a General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12), followed by assessment by using Beck?s Depression Inventory scale (BDI).Statistical analysis was done by the authors by using the SPSS 12 Version.ResultsThe prevalence of depression in the study population was 22.8%, which included mild depression (20.7%) and moderate depression (2.1%). Female gender, illiteracy, being single after marriage in the form of being separated or divorced, widow or widower and the loss of one or both the parents before attaining 16 years of age were found to be the factors which were significantly associated with depression.ConclusionA large proportion of people in the urban slum had depression and many psychosocial factors were found to be associated with it. Health care personnel must be trained to identify the vulnerable groups and appropriate treatment should be administered at the primary care setting itself. In India, due to the scarcity of mental health services and resources, the policy makers can consider encouraging community participation in the form of the creation of self help groups with the support of the grass root level health workers.