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TO ASSESS THE FREQUENCY OF DEPRESSION IN DIABETIC PATIENTS ATTENDING TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL: A CROSS SECTIONAL STUDY

Ali Ahsan, Dr Muhammad Hassan Abbas, Nasrin Saber

Background: Diabetes Mellitus (DM) is one of the most prevalent diseases in the world. Diabetes Mellitus is the most prevalent disease is Pakistan and also increasing predominantly. This study is designed to assess the prevalence of depression in diabetics. Objectives: The aim of this study is to assess prevalence of depression in diabetics attending Diabetic Clinic, Services Hospital. Study design: Cross-sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: This study was conducted at Diabetic Clinic, Services Hospital, Lahore Pakistan from August, 2018 to July, 2019. Methodology: In this cross-sectional study a total number of 100 diabetics patients were selected. Inclusion Criteria was as all diabetic patients within the age group of 20-80 and of either gender were included. Exclusion criteria was as diabetic patients from other medical facilities and patients with other predisposing factors for depression e.g cancer were excluded. After clarifying the study objectives to patients, informed consent was obtained. A Performa questionnaire (the standard questionnaire by Beck) was completed for each patient with help from 1 investigator. The Beck Depression Inventory, a 21-item screening questionnaire comprising 13 cognitive and 8 somatic questions was used to screen for depression. We analyzed the data by using SPSS 20. For qualitative variables we calculated frequency and percentage. Results: This study is about depression among diabetics. 34% of people were in age group 20-40, 48% in 41-60 and 18% in 61-80. Table 1 also show that the ration of male to female in sample was 3:1. The mean BDI score was 17.15 with a standard deviation of 3.48. This showed that there is presence of Mild Depression among the diabetes patients. The mean BDI score for those in age group 20-40 was 16.7 with a SD of 3.23, those in 41-60 was 17.0 with a SD of 3.4 and those in 61-80 was 18.33 with a SD of 4.04. The mean score of BDI in males to be 17.1 with a SD of 3.36 while in females it was 17.24 with a SD of 3.88. 12% of people have minimal depression, 68% have mild depression and 20% have moderate depression. 10.7% of males and 16.0% of females had moderate depression, 69.3% of males and 64.0% of females had mild depression, and 20.0% of males and 20.0% of females had moderate depression. As the chi-square value is less than table value there is no significant association of depression and gender. Conclusion: From this study we concluded that there is a prevalence of depression among diabetics. Though the depression was of varying degree, on average there is a mild state of depression among diabetics. Diabetics should be regularly screened for depression and do timely intervention, if needed. Keywords: Depression, Diabetes type 1, Diabetes type 2, Diabetes Clinic.