Prevalence of depression and associated factors among Chinese military plateau drivers in Golmud, Qinghai Province, China: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background: Depression is associated with declining duty performance, suicide and other serious problems in the army. Prolonged deployment at high altitude may result in depression among military personnel. The present study aimed to investigate the prevalence of depression among Chinese military plateau drivers and determine the associated factors.Methods: The participants were military drivers selected from Golmud motor transport base (high altitude group) and Fuzhou motor transport base (low altitude group). All participants were asked to complete a self-administrated questionnaire. The questionnaire included demographic and working characteristics, the Self Rating Depression Scale (SDS), the 14-item Fatigue Scale (FS-14), the Global Assessment of Migraine Severity (GAMS), the numeric rating scale (NRS) for dyspnea, and item three of the Patient Health Questionnaire-9-item (PHQ-9) for screening sleep disturbance.Results: A total of 400 questionnaires were distributed (200 for each group); 400 questionnaires were collected (the response rate was 100%). After eliminating 16 invalid questionnaires, 194 plateau drivers and 190 lowland drivers provided valid response (96.0%). In comparison to lowland drivers, the plateau drivers had severer fatigue (t = 4.298, p < 0.001), severer migraine (t = 11.440, p < 0.001), severer breathlessness (t = 12.094, p < 0.001), severer sleep disturbance (t = 3.353, p = 0.001), and higher prevalence of depression symptoms (χ2 = 15.123, p < 0.001). The possibility of having depression symptoms was significantly higher among military plateau drivers who were suffering severer fatigue (OR = 1.14, 95% CI: 1.01-1.29), migraine (OR = 1.83, 95% CI: 1.13-2.95), breathlessness (OR = 1.69, 95% CI: 1.04-1.73), and sleep disturbance (OR = 1.78, 95% CI: 1.03-3.07).Conclusion: Prevalence of depression was high among Chinese military plateau drivers. The risk factors were fatigue, severity of migraine, severity of breathlessness, and poor sleep quality. It is essential to become aware of these risk factors and their causes to intervene and help prevention of depression among Chinese military plateau drivers.