Frequency Of Depression In Patient Coming To Medical Outpatient Department

Abstract

Behavioral and mental diseases account for 12% of the worldwide disease burden. Adults are expected to account for 10% of the global population, with behavioral and mental disorders accounting for four of the ten top causes of disability. Depression is the most frequent mental illness, resulting in years lived with disabilities (YLDs). It manifests itself in a variety of ways, including a loss of interest, a depressed mood, sleep disturbances, a lack of energy, poor concentration, and a sense of guilt. It is estimated that 350 million people worldwide suffer from depression, which claims the lives of 850,000 individuals each year. According to the World Health Organization, depression will rank second among YLDs by 2020, and by 2030, it will be the major cause of disability. Depression causes significant handicap and can make it more difficult to recover from any medical condition. Furthermore, because most cases of depression are not identified, it goes undetected and untreated. According to a rough estimate, more than a third of the patients in Pakistan had undiagnosed comorbid depression. There is a scarcity of data on the prevalence of undiagnosed depression among Pakistani patients who attend the medical outpatient department (OPD). The purpose of the study was to determine the frequency of depression in medical outpatient department. The frequency of depression in patients visiting to medical outpatient department in our study was found to be 64% respectively that was assessed by diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (DSM–5).Furthermore, relationship of patients with depression was assessed with multiple variables such as gender, marital status, chronic health illness, employment status and distribution of age. Although clinically significant; none of them were found to have significant relationship with depression with pvalue >0.05 respectively. Patients who visited the medical outpatient department had a higher incidence of depression. Primary health care research and people must acknowledge this as a significant issue and concentrate on detecting undiagnosed depression, which may be attributed to a lack of awareness among patients and providers. Therefore, development of an efficient mental health strategy and the implementation of mental health programs in the country's rural primary healthcare institutions are necessary to reduce the burden of this illness.