Depressive Symptoms among Children with Sickle Cell Anemia in a Tertiary Health Facility in North-western Nigeria

Context: Sickle cell anemia (SCA) being a chronic debilitating condition places affected children at risk of depression. Aims: The aim of this study is to determine the prevalence of depressive symptoms in children with SCA, the perceived causes, intervention sought, and associated factors. Settings and Design: This was a cross-sectional survey involving children with SCA aged 7–15 years attending pediatric hematology clinic of Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital, Sokoto. Materials and Methods: Information on depressive symptoms was obtained using the short mood and feelings questionnaire for children and adolescents. Statistical Analysis Used: Data were analyzed using IBM-SPSS version 25.0. Results: Respondents consisted of 291 child–caregiver pair with M:F of the children 1.6:1 and mean age of 11.0 ± 2.7 years. Majority [239 (82.1%)] of the caregivers were females with mean age 38.4 ± 7.4 years. Most [217 (74.6%)] of the caregivers were Hausa by tribe, married (269, 92.5%), in a monogamous setting, 159 (58.5%) with 129 (44.3%) of them having low socioeconomic status. One hundred and forty-nine (51.2%) children had depressive symptoms. Requirement for daily drug intake (125, 83.9%), missed school days (119, 79.9%), recurrent illness (115, 77.2%), and stress (114, 76.5%) were the commonest perceived causes. Prayers (138, 94.5%) and use of distraction (100, 68.5%) were the commonest interventions adopted. Child age category ( P = 0.002), caregiver’s gender ( P < 0.001), family setting ( P < 0.001), socioeconomic status ( P = 0.008), comorbidity ( P = 0.021), frequent painful crises ( P = 0.001), and frequent hospital admission ( P = 0.024) were associated with depressive symptoms and remained independent predictors of depressive symptoms on logistic regression. Conclusions: Depressive symptoms were common among the subjects and associated with some sociodemographic and medical factors.