A community based cross sectional study on prevalence of depression among 40-55-year-old women residing in urban area of Maharashtra India study author information

Background.Menopause is one of the major mile stone in a woman’s life, a woman under goes many changes that are both physiologic and psychosocial changes A large proportion of women undergoing menopause experience various abnormal symptoms such as, vasomotor symptoms. the vasomotor symptoms include hot flashes and night sweats; they are also considered as predominant menopausal symptoms. Multiple studies have shown that the increased risk of depression in the menopausal age group. Objectives To assess the prevalence the depressive symptoms in women aged 40 to 55 years , residing in urban area. Methods The present study is a cross sectional study, Assessment of Depression of women was done using Beck’s Depression Inventory, it is a validated instrument for measuring depression. This tool is a self-rated scale, where individuals rate their own symptoms of depression. Results: The results of data collected from 120 women in the age group of 40 to 55 years. Mean age of the participants in the present study were 49.92 ± 4.01 years. In the present study a total of 53 women i.e. 44.1 % of the total study population had depression where mild depression was seen in 32 i.e. 26.6% and moderate depression was seen in 15 patients i.e. 12.5 %. Severe depression was seen in 6 patients i.e. 5 %. The age of the study participants was positively with the depression score with person’s correlation coefficient of 0.725 and p value of 0.032 which was statistically significant. The education level of the study participants was positively with the depression score with spearman’s correlation coefficient of 0.247 and p value of 0.522 which was non statistically significant. The duration of comorbidities of the study participants was positively with the depression score with spearman’s correlation coefficient of 0.451 and p value of 0.048 which was statistically significant. Conclusion: Majority of the women i.e. 44.1 % of the total study population had depression. The depressive symptoms were found to be higher in older women and those with comorbidities. The women in the age group of 40-55 years need special attention, these women should be screened for signs of depression, so that major depressive illness can be mitigated. The treating physician should consider the mental health aspect of the patients.