Prevalence of depression and associated risk factors in patients belonging to low socio-economic status

Aim: to find out the prevalence of depression and associated risk factors in patients belonging to low socio-economic status. study design:cross sectional descriptive design. settings:the study was done at out-patient department of psychiatry of bahawal victoria hospital bahawalpur. duration of study: the duration of our study was 2 months that is 1st april to 31st may 2014. methodology:we collected the data through pre-tested and pre-formed questionnaire. the questionnaire consisted of two parts. the first part comprises of demographic data that includes name,age,sex,occupation,religion,marital status,number of family members and bread earners. the second part consisted of variables under study which were psychosocial factors including financial problems,marital conflicts,major life trauma and social failure. the data for study was obtained from the patients of low socio economic status who came to clinic for psychiatric consultations. after taking an informed consent,the questions were translated in urdu by the researcher and answers by the patient were translated in english and entered in the questionnaire by the researcher. results: a total 200 of the diagnosed patients of depression were taken under study,24% subjects were male and 76% subjects were female. major life trauma was leading cause of depression in 46.5% subjects,social failure in 22.5% subjects,marital conflicts in 19.5% subjects and financial problems in 11.5% subjects. most of the patients presenting to psychiatric outpatient department were from low socio-economic status with age group of 18-65 years. conclusions:the findings of present study suggest that depression was more frequent in females than males. major life trauma being the most prevalent psychosocial risk factor.