Prevalence of Depression among Type 2 Diabetic Outpatients in Black Lion General Specialized Hospital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Background. The emotional consequences of diabetes have been scrutinized by a number of investigative teams and there are varying reports about the association of depression with type 2 diabetes mellitus. However, there is limited data about this in Ethiopia. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to assess the prevalence of comorbid depression among type 2 diabetic outpatients. Methods and Materials. Institution based cross-sectional study design was conducted on a random sample of 276 type 2 diabetic outpatients from Black Lion General Specialized Hospital. Systematic random sampling technique was used to get these individual patients from 920 type 2 diabetic outpatients who have an appointment during the data collection period. Patients' depression status was measured using Patient Health Questionnaire 9 (PHQ 9). Result. Totally 264 type 2 diabetic outpatients were interviewed with a response rate of 95.6%. The prevalence of depression among type 2 diabetic outpatients was 13%. Based on PHQ 9 score, 28.4% (75) fulfilled the criteria for mild depression, 12.1% (32) for moderate depression, 2.7% (7) for moderately severe depression, and 1.5% (4) for severe depression. But 45.8% (121) of patients had no clinically significant depression. Conclusion. This study demonstrated that depression is a common comorbid health problem in type 2 diabetic outpatients with a prevalence rate of 13%.