Prevalence of depression in a general hospital in Izhevsk, Russia.

BACKGROUND

There are a lot of studies on depressive disorders in a general hospital done across the world, but no data from Russia on this subject was found in international psychiatric journals or MEDLINE.

AIMS: to determine the prevalence of depressive disorders in medical inpatients in Izhevsk, the capital of the Udmurt Republic, a region in Russia, and to identify associated factors.

METHOD: A sample of 323 adult medical inpatients was composed. The Russian version of the MINI 5.0.0 was used.

RESULTS

The prevalence of lifetime and current depressive disorders was 30% and 20.7%, respectively. Depression was more common in women, widowed or divorced, retired or disabled, with low income and bad family relationships, and among respondents with a chronic somatic illness. Depression had a high comorbidity with organic mental and anxiety disorders. Only 40.3% of the individuals with depression had referred for psychiatric consultations, most of them being treated with fluvoxamine.

CONCLUSIONS

Prevalence of depression was substantial but consistent with other studies. Taking into consideration associated factors, physicians can improve recognition and treatment of depression in medical inpatients.