The Prevalence And The Multivariate Analysis On Depression Among Rural Women

ObjectiveThe objective of the research is to investigate the prevalence of depression amongrural women and to analysis the association between the prevalence of depression andfactors, such as age, education, marriage, diseases and life events.Subjects and Methods1．The selection of subjects(1) The selection of subjects for the prevalence of depression800 women of 18-65 years old were identified from 2 downtowns and 8 villages inFengcheng, Liaoning Province. And the women who have mental disorders or cannotcomplete the questionnaire were excluded.(2) The selection of subjects for case-control studyThe subjects with depression defined as an SDS score (?)50 were selected as casegroup, and the others without depression were selected as control group.2．Diagnosis standard and the methods of measurements(1) The diagnosis standard of depression: The Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale(SDS) was applied to assess the extent and severity of depressive symptoms, and anSDS score of 50 is cut-off score. And the more SDS score, the more severe depressivesymptoms. Depression was defined as an SDS score (?)50．(2) Life events: a life-events scale for rural women was edited reference to TheLife Events Scale (LES).3．The contents of epidemiological surveyQuestionnaires were filled by the subjects in sites. The contents of survey included:age, education, marriage, diseases and life events.4．Statistical methodsMicrosoft Access was used to input data. Student's t-test, chi-square test andlogistic regression were utilized in the study. All of the analyses were performed using SPSS13．0 software. A 2-sided value of (?)=0．05 was regarded as statistically significant.Results1．Prevalence rate of depressionTaking a SDS score of 50 as a cut-off point, we found the overall prevalence rateof depression was 54．3%. The overall prevalence rate had significant age difference(63．6%, 60．1%, 54．1% and 45．2% for 50-65, 40-, 30 and 18-years old respectively),the overall prevalence rate had significant educational difference, and higher educationyielded lower rates. But the overall prevalence rate had no significant marriagedifference.2．Monovariate analysisThe subjects with depressive symptoms were selected as case group and the otherwithout depressive symptoms as control group.(1) Demographic characteristics and depressionThe association between prevalence rate of depression and demographic variables,such as age, education and marriage was analyzed by using trend chi-square test. Therewas no significant statistical difference of the prevalence rate of depression in differentmarriage group. Those who were older or had lower education were significantlyassociated with depression. Older age increased the risk for depression, but highereducation decreased the risk for depression.(2) Diseases and depressionThe association between prevalence rate of depression and diseases, such asgynecological diseases, cancers, heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, liver and kidneydiseases was analyzed by using chi-square test. Those who had gynecologicaldiseases(OR=1．971, 95%C.1:1．212(?)3．203) , heart disease(OR=3．527, 95%C.I:1．961(?)6．345) , hypertension(OR=2．520, 95%C.I:1．165(?)5．449) , diabetes, liver and kidneydiseases(OR=1 1．236, 95%C.I:1．463(?)86．305) had high prevalence rate of depression.(3) Life events and depression(?) Life-events score and depressionThe mean LES score for all subjects was 4．14(?)11．98．The negative LES scoressignificantly differ between case group and control group. Case group scoredsignificant higher than control group. (?) Single life event and depressionChi-square test was used to analyze the association between single life event andthe prevalence of depression. The passive life events such as having conflict withmother-in-law (OR=9．462, 95%C.I.:1．216-73．642) , owing a debt (OR=2．339,95%C.I.:1．414-3．870) , economic difficulties (OR=2．262, 95%C.I.:1．351-3．788) .3．Multivariate analysisLogistic regression was conducted on the factors which had statistical significanceof less than 0．1．Other factors were controlled by using Logistic regression, the riskfactor of depression were having heart disease (OR=2．939, 95%C.I.:1．603-5．390) ,having conflict with mother-in-law (OR=14．938, 95%C.I.:1．554-143．55) , owing a debt(OR=1．861, 95%C.I.:1．091-3．173) . The protective factors of depression were higheducation (OR=0．768, 95%C.I.:0．638-0．926) and having new family members(OR=0．147, 95%C.I.:0．028-0．763) ConclusionsThe prevalence rate of depression is 54．3% among rural women in Fengcheng,Liaoning province. Logistic regression revealed that the prevalence of depression washigher among women who having heart disease, having conflict with mother-in-law,owing a debt were risk factors of depression. High education and new family memberswere protective factors of depression.