Madeleine MUKESHIMANA a Senior Lecturer, University of Rwanda, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Rwanda recently examined depression and associated factors among patients with Type 2 Diabetes in Rwanda.
He observed that various studies have found a greater prevalence of depression among patients having one or more chronic non communicable disease like diabetes mellitus than in the general population. That co-morbidity is linked with serious health consequences such as high mortality and morbidity, debility, low quality of life and increased health costs.
The study aimed to determine the prevalence of depression
among patients with diabetes attending three selected district hospitals in
Rwanda. Sociodemographic factors associated with depression were also explored.
A descriptive cross-sectional study. A sample of 385 was selected randomly to
participate in the study and 339 complete the questionnaires making a response
rate of 88%. The Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) was used to screen
depression. Descriptive and inferential analysis were done.
The study results show that the majority of respondents
83.8% (n=284) had depression. Among them 17.9% (n=61) had moderately severe to
severe depression while 81.9% (n=223) had minimal to moderate depression. A
statistically significant association was found between age and depression
(p=0.01) also between gender and depression (p=0.02). Significance was
determined at P<0.05.
The author therefore found a high prevalence of depression among patients with diabetes and thus recommended regular screening of depression among these patients is recommended.
