Comparison of Frequency of Depression Among Patients and Their Healthy Attendants at Medical Out-Patient Department of Civil Hospital Karachi

Abstract

Objective: To determine frequency of depression in patients and their healthy attendants at medical OPD of Civil Hospital Karachi. Patients &Methods: Patients attending medical OPD were administered DSM-IV questionnaire comparative observational. Equal number of healthy attendants with the patients were selected as control. Diagnosis of depression was made if DSM-IV score of = 5 was present. Frequencies of depression were compared with control. Two groups were analyzed basis of gender, marital status, education and occupation. Results: During the study, 236 patients and equal number of controls were included. The mean DSM-IV score was significantly higher in patient group (3.8/Standard Deviation?) as compared with control group (1.6/ Standard Deviation?). The number of depressed subjects in control group was 19 (8.1%) and that in patient group was 99 (41.9%), the difference was statistically significant (x2 test; p value <0.001). No difference in frequency of depression was found on basis of marital status but significant differences were found on the basis of gender, education and occupation. Conclusion: Significant numbers of patients attending the medical OPD were depressed

Keywords

• depression
• dsm-iv
• outpatients