Amna Tariq, Sobia Arshad, Mehreen Ejaz.
Frequency of Depression in Tuberculosis patients and its Association with Various Sociodemographic Factors.
Pak J Med Health Sci Jan ;12(1):42-5.

Aim : To determine the frequency of depression in tuberculosis (TB) patients and to evaluate its association with various sociodemographic factors. Methods: After taking written informed consent, 151 TB patients were enrolled. All the patients suffering from tuberculosis either in outpatient department or inpatient department were included. Patients who did not give consent and patients who were undergoing treatment for depression prior to the onset of TB were excluded. Those with other coexisting physical illness were also excluded in order to avoid the confounding influence of these factors on psychological well being. Patients’ demographics and other variables were filled in a predesigned proforma by the attending himself. Depression was defined as a HAM-D score of >= 8 and severity of depression was also assessed via Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D). SPSS version 21.0 was used for statistical analysis taking p value <0.05 as statistically significant.Results: Out of total 151 cases, depression was found in 80 (53.0%) patients. Depression was significantly seen more in patients between 46-60 years of age (p-value of <0.001), patients with poor marital relationships (p-value of 0.002) and those belonging to a lower socioeconomic status (p-value of 0.0 03) Conclusion: Prevalence of depression in TB patients in Pakistan is quite high. In order to effectively control tuberculosis, it is crucial to address the problem of comorbid depression.

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