Prevalence of depression among households in three capital cities of Pakistan: need to revise the mental health policy.
cross_sectional · Level IV
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 17299589.
- Also identified by PMC identifier PMC383372.
- No licence information is recorded for this record.
- Because redistribution is not established, this page shows the abstract only. Follow the links below for the full text.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Pakistan, among the other developing countries, has a higher prevalence rate of depression because of the current social adversities. There is, thus, a great need for systematic studies on prevalence of depression. The current study aims at exploring the prevalence of depression among households in three capital cities of Pakistan. METHODOLOGY AND PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: A sample of N = 820 was randomly selected, and a cross sectional telephone-based study was conducted for a duration of six months. It was found that there was a regional variation in prevalence rates for depression among the three cities. Lahore had the highest number of depressives (53.4%), as compared to Quetta (43.9%) and Karachi (35.7%). Middle age, female gender and secondary school level of education were significantly associated with depression among the study group. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The different rates of prevalence among the three cities could be attributed to local cultural influence, geographical locations and social adversities. There is a need for revision of existing health policy by the government.