Mood disturbance and depression in Arab women following hospitalisation from acute cardiac conditions: a cross-sectional study from Qatar

Abstract

ObjectivesDepression is associated with increased morbidity and mortality rates among cardiovascular patients. Depressed patients have three times higher risk of death than those who are not. We sought to determine the presence of depressive symptoms, and whether gender and age are associated with depression among Arab patients hospitalised with cardiac conditions in a Middle Eastern country.SettingUsing a non-probability convenient sampling technique, a cross-sectional survey was conducted with 1000 Arab patients ≥20 years who were admitted to cardiology units between 2013 and 2014 at the Heart Hospital in Qatar. Patients were interviewed 3 days after admission following the cardiac event. Surveys included demographic and clinical characteristics, and the Arabic version of the Beck Depression Inventory Second Edition (BDI-II). Depression was assessed by BDI-II clinical classification scale.Results15% of the patients had mild mood disturbance and 5% had symptoms of clinical depression. Twice as many females than males suffered from mild mood disturbance and clinical depression symptoms, the majority of females were in the age group 50 years and above, whereas males were in the age group 40–49 years. χ2 Tests and multivariate logistic regression analyses indicated that gender and age were statistically significantly related to depression (p<0.001 for all).ConclusionsOlder Arab women are more likely to develop mood disturbance and depression after being hospitalised with acute cardiac condition. Gender and age differences approach, and routine screening for depression should be conducted with all cardiovascular patients, especially for females in the older age groups. Mental health counselling should be available for all cardiovascular patients who exhibit depressive symptoms.

Prevalence of Depression among Patients with Diabetes Mellitus Type 2 Attending a Tertiary Care Teaching Hospital in Oman

“…From the protracted exercise via receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis, a cutoff of ≥ 13 on the BDI-21 appeared to optimally balance sensitivity and specificity. The establishment of an optimal cut-off point for BDI-21 has been marred with inconsistent results [10,11]. This implies a lack of agreement on the differentiation between a case and noncase.…”

“…The Arabic-version of the Beck Depression Inventory scale (BDI-21) was employed to solicit the presence of depressive symptoms. The BDI has been extensively used among Arabic-speaking populations using various dialects [10,11]. However, existing literature has not identified the optimal cut-off point of BDI-21 for Omanis.…”