Socio Demographic Correlates of Depressed Patients Attending a TertiaryHospital in Nigeria

Abstract

Objective: To identify the socio-demographic factors that correlate with depression in patients attending a tertiary hospital in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. Methods: 470 subjects, recruited by a systematic sampling method participated in the study. The Beck’s Depression Inventory (BDI) was administered to each person. Only one hundred and eighty five subjects met the criteria for the second stage of the study, (a score of 18 and above on the BDI). Diagnosis was made with the Composite International Diagnostic Interview schedule and data analysis done with the statistical package in the social sciences (SPSS). Results: The prevalence of depression was significantly lower among the married in comparison to the presently unmarried which includes the widowed, the divorced/separated and the single (X2=4.070, df=1, p