RISK FACTORS OF DEPRESSION AMONG SAUDI FEMALES

Background: Depression is a common illness with rising burden worldwide; which is associated with decline in social, occupational and health aspects. Despite of its consequences; little is known about risk factors potentiating it in Saudi females. Therefore, the current study aimed at exploring prevalence and risk factors of depression in Saudi females. Subjects and methods: Through a cross sectional study design, 317 Saudi females aged 18-65 years were selected randomly from the primary care clinics at King Khalid University hospital, they were screened for depression using Patient Health Questionnaires (PHQ-2), positive cases proceeded to Patient Health Questionnaire-9 and negative respondents proceeded directly to the study questionnaire. Chi-square test was used to assess the significance of categorical variables; and logistic regression was conducted to explore significant predictors of depression. Results: An overall 66.2% of the respondents had some degree of depression which ranged between minimal depression in 4 women (1.3%) and moderately severe depression in 51 women (16.1%). The bivariate analysis showed that the factors significantly associated with depressive symptoms were marital status, education level, occupation, major familial changes and financial status p<0.05. While regression analysis revealed that marital status (widowed, separated, widowed) and being jobless are significant predictors for depression in females. Conclusion and recommendations: Depressive symptoms are common among studied Saudi females; significant risk factors included being widowed, divorced and separated; illiterates and those who can just read and write, and jobless women. It is recommended that women should be routinely screened for depression in the primary clinics for early detection and management.