Life events occurring before and after onset of depression in a Kenyan setting ‐ any significance?

Abstract

In a controlled study of life events in depressed patients in Kenya it was found that the rate of life events was higher in the depressed group in the 27 weeks preceding the onset of depression but with a sharp increase in the last 6-9 weeks before onset. It was also found that the depressed patients continued to experience independent life events after the onset of the depression. It is hypothesized that the continued occurrence of life events after the onset of depression is an incentive to seek help and, eventually, a psychiatric referral.

Family History, Life Events and the Factorial Structure of Depression in a Nigerian Sample of Inpatients

“…Hence the mean life event score for our subjects (2.2 B 1.7) is much higher than the mean life event scores of the schizophrenics (0.83 B 0.92) in the other Nigerian study. This is in support of previous African studies that have indicated the preponderance of life events among depressed patients [27,28]. The scientific literature seems to be silent on the relationship between age and life event scores.…”

“…Following Gureje's [26] example, items 3,12,16,19,20,23,24,27, and 31 were classified as desirable life events, while the other items were regarded as undesirable (table 3). This instrument has been found to be acceptable to Nigerian subjects [26].…”

“…There are no African studies that have explored the relationship between the subcategories of depression and family history of mental disorders and life events. The life event studies from Africa were concerned with the association of life events with onset of depression [26][27][28].…”

Detection of major depression in Ugandan primary health care settings using simple questions from a subjective well-being (SWB) subscale

“…Generally, depressed patients experienced more life events than general population controls in a period of six months before the interview date, a common finding in past literature (Patel et al, 1997;Rafanelli et al, 2005). Life events significantly had more negative impact ratings among the depressed which is also consistent with earlier findings from the region (Birabwa, 2005;Ndetei et al, 1984). Independent life events were associated with an increased risk of current MDEs in patients compared to general population controls (Christensen et al, 2003;Paykel, 2003).…”

Life Events in a South Indian Population and Their Association With Psychiatric Disorder in Children

“…However the social environment may provide different mediating factors related to extended family structure and religious belief. Adult studies have found more life events before the onset of depression in Kenya (Ndetei & Vadher, 1984) but not before schizophrenia (Gureje & Adewunmi, 1988) in Nigeria, reminding us that western findings may not obtain in radically different cultures.…”