Abstract
Gender is undoubtedly one of the major determinants of mental health. One school of thought believes that hormonal influences related to the reproductive cycle of women may play a role increased/differential vulnerability to mental problems. Unipolar Depression, which is predicted to be the second leading cause of global disability burden by 2020, is twice as common in women. Moreover, onset of menarche, maternity, and childbirth per se are stressful events in the life of a female. The purpose of this study was to analyze depression in female patients at different hormonal phases (5 phases, as predefined for this study) and its association with the quality of life in these patients. This cross section observational study involved 60 female patients in the department of psychiatry at a tertiary care teaching hospital in western U.P. Data was collected using self structured Socio-demographic and Clinical data sheets. Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D) and WHO Quality of Life (WHOQol-BREF) were used as psychometric tools. The test values of continuous variables were expressed as mean ± SD (standard deviation). The Pearson product-moment correlation was used to determine the strength and direction of a linear relationship. Depression was found in all the hormonal phases with highest (35%) in late perimenopausal and Severe Depression was found to be highest (60%) in early perimenopausal group. All the cases of Post Partum Depression were of Moderate type. Pregnant patients presented in all Mild, Moderate and Severe Depressive Episodes. A significant (P<0.001) inverse correlation was found between HAM-D scores and the overall quality of life (total WHOQOL-BREF Score). Pearson’s correlation coefficient, r= -0.596. Depression scores also correlated significantly with all four domains of WHO quality of life. Depression has shown to significantly influence the quality of life in these subjects.
Keywords: Women, Depression, Hormonal Phases.
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Corresponding Author
Dr Sujit Kumar
Department of Psychiatry, NSCB Subharti Medical College, Meerut, U.P., India
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.18535/jmscr/v7i8.120
