Frequency of depression amongst patients with lower limbs physical disability

Abstract

Background: A congenital, developmental, mental, or physical defect that has the potential to seriously interfere with a person's daily activities is referred to as a disability. People with impairments are susceptible to a wide range of secondary issues, such as pain, fatigue, depression, obesity, and other unknown causes. Objective: To assess the frequency of depression amongst patients with lower limbs physical disability. Methodology: The current study was cross sectional, carried out at Balochistan Institute of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and Bolan Medical Complex Hospital Quetta from March 2019 to March 2020. Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) was employed to assess the depression. A pre-designed proforma was then used to collect all the required information’s. The SPSS version 24.0 was used to input and analyze the data. Results: In our study, totally 220 patients were enrolled. The male patients were 154 (70%) while female patients were 66 (30%). The mean age (SD) in our study was 42 (4.1) years. Distribution based on PHQ-9 score shows that 132 (60%) patients were observed with PHQ-9 score of less than 4 whereas 88 (40%) patients were observed with PHQ-9 score of more than 4.