Prevalence of Unrecognised Depression Among Outpatient Department Attendees of A Rural Hospital in Delhi, India

BACKGROUND: Depression is one of the most common mental disorders affecting 121 million people in the world and it frequently goes unrecognised among patients. This study was carried out to find out the prevalence of unrecognised depression among out patient attendees of a rural hospital in Delhi, India and its socio demographic correlates. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This is a rural hospital based cross sectional study among 395 patients attending different non-psychiatric outpatient departments. Data was collected by using predesigned & pretested questionnaire and prevalence of depression was determined by PRIME MD (PHQ-9) and analysed by using SPSS version 16. Data was analysed using chi-square test with "p" value < 0.05 considered as significant. Independent association of socio demographic variables were determined by multi-variate logistic regression analysis using WHO EPI INFO software. RESULTS: The study included 67% females and 33% males with mean age 31.73 + 12 years. Most were Hindu (80%), married (75%), illiterate (47%) and were unemployed (65%). Out of 395 patients, 119 (30.1%) were diagnosed to be having depression. Out of 119 patients who were found depressed, 25 (21%) were already diagnosed case of depression and 94 (79%) were detected by using PRIME-MD, giving prevalence of unrecognised depression 23.8%. Among socio demographic factors, gender, religion, education status and being widow/separated were found to be statistically significantly associated with hidden depression among the patients. CONCLUSION: Unrecognized depression is a common in non-psychiatric OPDs. There is a need to screen patients presenting in such OPDs for depression.