The determination of the predictors of QoL, which is an indicator of disease outcome will improve service delivery to women of childbearing age.

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Depression has been consistently associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD), it is also known to play an essential role in the initiation and exacerbation of CVD. This study was aimed to determine the prevalence and correlates of depression among patients attending the cardiology clinic of the Benue State University Teaching Hospital (BSUTH), Makurdi. The study was conducted among one hundred and six (106) consenting patients attending the cardiology unit of BSUTH from June to August 2017. The result shows that, 52(49.1%) were males while the remaining 54(50.9%) were females. The mean age of the respondents was 53.48±14.77years, twenty-eighty respondents representing 26.4% were married at the time of the study, 15(14.2%) were single while the remaining 63(59.4%) were previously married. Thirty-seven (34.9%) of the study subjects had no formal education and eighty-two (77.4%) of the presentation at the clinic were having a diagnosis of hypertension, 8(7.5%) were being treated for Rheumatic Heart Disease (RHD), 9(8.5%) were diagnosed with cardiomyopathies, 3(2.8%) were diagnosed heart failure and 4 (3.8%) had other cardiovascular diseases. The prevalence of depression was found to be 45.3% in this study, there was a statistically significant relationship between the diagnoses of depression and gender status (p=0.001), marital status (p=0.01), partner relationship (p=0.001), substance abuse (p=0.001). No statistically significant relationship was found between depression and occupational status (p=0.167), level of educational attainment (p=0.401), respondents’ weight (p=0.06), and the nature of cardiovascular diagnoses (p=0.951). We recommended early detection and treatment of depression among patients with cardiovascular diseases.

Introduction This study examined major and subthreshold depression, their relationships with sociodemographic/risk factors and quality of life (QOL) of internally displaced older persons in a rural community in north central Nigeria.  Methods A community-based, cross-sectional study conducted among 200 older adults in Riyom, Nigeria. The respective modules of the World Health Organization (WHO) Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI) and WHOQOL-BREF were used to conduct face to face interviews to assess major and subthreshold depression and QOL respectively. Data were analysed using SPSS version 23. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression analysis were performed using 95% confidence interval to analyse the significant relationships between depression, socio-demographic/risk factors, and QOL. Probability value of < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Findings The prevalence of lifetime major and sub-threshold prevalence of depression were 58.5% and 12.5% respectively. The factors significantly associated with increased odds for major depression were average monthly income, history of traumatic event (s) and having a confidant to talk with after the event (s) with (OR=1.839, CI=1.364-2.480, p= 0.001); (OR=9.860, CI=1.025- 94.876, p= 0.048) (OR= 4.570, CI=1.783- 11.718, p= 0.002) respectively while access to health care and having a confidant after the event (s) similar to major depression (OR= 5.105, CI=1.037- 25.133, p= 0.045); (OR= 0.276, CI=0.088- 0.862, p= 0.027) respectively were found significantly associated for sub-threshold depression. Conclusions The prevalence of major and sub-threshold depression among internally displaced older persons in a Nigerian rural community were high and there were significant relationships with sociodemographic factors and QOL. While there is a need for more studies, intervention studies in internally displaced older persons would need to consider low socioeconomic status, social support, and traumatic events with substantial impairment in QOL in addressing the burden of major and sub-threshold depression among these growing populations.

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Long duration of hospitalisation has been associated with negative consequences of isolating the patients from their social network, initiating maladaptive patterns in the patients and worsening the burden of care on the relatives. In this particular study, we were interested in determining factors that correlate with length of stay on admission among in-patients receiving psychiatric services in North-Central Nigeria. The prospective study was part of a larger in-patients study conducted on 112 consenting patients admitted in the psychiatric wards of Benue State University Teaching Hospital Makurdi, Federal Medical Centre Makurdi and Jos University Teaching Hospital Jos during the study period. Patients who stayed on hospital admission for more than twenty-eight (28) days were classified as ‘long stay’, conversely, those who were discharged from admission after spending 28 days or less were referred to as ‘short stay’ patients. A total of 112 subjects were recruited for the study, 67(59.8%) were female while 45(40.2%) were male, the mean age was 36.98±11.09 years and 54(48.2%) subjects were still married at the time of the study. Forty-two representing 37.5% of the respondents stayed on admission for more than 28 days. The mean duration of stay was 28.8±24.5 days. Long duration of stay was found to be significantly associated with the quality of intimate partner relationship (p=0.001), years of completed education (p=0.021), age group (p=0.001), nature of psychiatric diagnosis (p=0.014), pharmacotherapy (p=0.001), comorbid physical condition (p=0.001), previous admission (p=0.001), defaulted treatment (p=0.001), frequency of previous episodes (p=0.001) and the number of years a patient has had the mental disorder (p=0.001). We concluded that, assessing duration of stay on admission among in-patients treatment for psychiatric disorders is very necessary.