Association between HIV status and depressive symptoms among children and adolescents in the Southern Highlands Zone, Tanzania: A case-control study

Abstract

BackgroundChildren and adolescents continue to have HIV/AIDS in southern Saharan Africa. Scaling up of HIV services has significantly improved access to ARV and consequently improved on morbidity and mortality related to HIV/AIDS including opportunistic infection. Despite the above efforts, non-communicable conditions including mental disorders such as depression have been observed to contribute to the burden of disabilities about which little is documented. This study, therefore, aimed to determine the magnitude of depressive symptoms and the associated factors among HIV-infected children and adolescents.MethodsThe study was a matched case-control design involving 300 cases of HIV-infected children matched by age and sex against 600 uninfected controls. Systematic sampling technique was used to select the cases while multistage sampling technique was employed to identify villages/ streets purposive and sampling technique was employed to obtain participants from households.ResultsThe overall prevalence of depressive symptoms among the cohort of 900 participants was found to be 12.9%, with 27% of HIV-infected and 5.8% of HIV-uninfected children and adolescents screened positive for depressive symptoms. Multiple logistic regression revealed that being HIV-infected (AOR 1.96(1.11–3.45)), residing in a rural setting (AOR 0.61(0.39–0.96)) and history of childhood deprivation (AOR 4.76 (2.79–8.13)) were significantly associated with depressive symptoms.ConclusionHIV infected adolescents are more affected by depression compared to non-infected counterparts. Childhood deprivation was significantly associated with presence of depressive symptoms. Integration of mental health evaluation and treatment into the HIV care provided for adolescents can be beneficial. More studies to delineate factors associated with depressed adolescents with HIV may add value to the body of knowledge and overall improvement of care.

The value of hope: development and validation of a contextual measure of hope among people living with HIV in urban Tanzania a mixed methods exploratory sequential study

“…The hope measure could support the efforts to improve the wellbeing of PLH in high prevalent settings of Tanzania. Whereas studies have reported that preventing and addressing mental health concerns including anxiety and depression among PLH has the potential to improve HIV treatment outcomes [87], recent reports in Tanzania indicate both adolescents and adults living with HIV/AIDS, had increased rates of depression by four times in adolescents with compared to those without HIV [51,88,89]. In addition the integration of mental health care within the primary and HIV care services remains limited [43,[90][91][92] in part due to limited number of trained health care providers and even fewer with mental health care competencies as well as stigmatization of mental health conditions in the community [43,90,92,93].…”

The psychometric properties of PHQ-4 anxiety and depression screening scale among out of school adolescent girls and young women in Tanzania: a cross-sectional study

“…Depression and anxiety are the leading causes of disability, morbidity, and mortality among adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) aged 15 to 29 years in Africa [1]. Evidence increasingly shows varied prevalence across different populations including AGYW and people living with HIV (PLHIV) [2,3]. For instance, a study conducted in Kenya and Zambia using the four-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-4) reported the prevalence of moderate and severe symptoms of anxiety and depression of 3.7 and 9.4% respectively, among AGYW [2].…”

“…For instance, a study conducted in Kenya and Zambia using the four-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-4) reported the prevalence of moderate and severe symptoms of anxiety and depression of 3.7 and 9.4% respectively, among AGYW [2]. A study conducted in Tanzania reported a prevalence of depression of 27% among children and adolescents living with HIV [3].…”

Prevalence and correlates of depression and anxiety symptoms among out-of-school adolescent girls and young women in Tanzania: A cross-sectional study

“…One of the ways to promote mental health and inform future interventions among out-of-school AGYW is to create awareness on the burden and risks of anxiety and depression and preventive measures. The literature on depressive and anxiety disorders among out of school AGYW in Tanzania is scarce, with the majority of studies focusing on hospital-based populations[24] and women around the peripartum period [25,26]. In keeping with recent recommendations about setting programmatic agendas for mental health in SSA [5], a clear understanding of the burden, protective and risk factors is paramount [6].…”