Jornal de Depressão e Ansiedade
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Depression Symptoms among Patients with Multiple Chronic Conditions

Eliane Ferreira Carvalho Banhato, Arise Garcia De Siqueira Galil, Tatiane Da Silva Campos, Fernando A.B. Colugnati, Kimber P. Richter, Marcus Gomes Bastos and Ana Paula Cupertino

Aim: To identify depressive symptoms and biological psychosocial risk factors associated among patients with multiple chronic conditions (MCC).

Methods: The study was conducted in a center for the treatment of hypertension, diabetes, and chronic kidney disease in Brazil. During three months a structured interview was conducted among patients waiting for routine visits. In the univariate analysis, descriptive statistics were performed to characterize the sample and in the bivariate analysis were used the chi-square. The risk of depression was calculated in a Prevalence Ratio with 95% confidence interval, as association measure. Variables with p<0.10 were selected for inclusion in the multivariate model, except in the case of self reported chronic disease and the elderly (60 years old or more).

Results: The study population included 1.558 patients with MCC. The mean age of participants was 61.4 years (SD = 12.4), most were women (57.5%) and had low levels of education (87.3%). The most prevalent disease was hypertension (88.6%), over half of the sample (55.9%) had 2 chronic diseases, 12% were smokers, and 3.5% were heavy alcohol users. The prevalence of depressive symptoms was 33.3% and was associated with female gender, diabetes and tobacco use.

Conclusion: There is a high prevalence of depressive symptoms in this population and it is associated with a number of health conditions and health behaviors, confirming the complex relationship between depressive symptoms and MCC. These data reinforce the need for screening, early diagnosis and management of depression among patients with MCC.