Assessment of the prevalence of Depression among Insulin and Oral Hypoglycemic Users with Diabetes and Associated Factors in Addis Ababa Public Hospitals: A Comparative Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Introduction: Diabetes Mellitus (DM), particularly type 2 diabetes is a prevalent non-communicable disease with a significant association with depression. Alongside diabetes, depression is a common comorbidity that significantly impacts patients' quality of life and disease management. The estimated prevalence of depression among diabetic patients in Ethiopia was 39.73%, and its subgroup analysis showed that the prevalence is about 52.9% in  Addis Ababa.

Objective: The main objective of this study is to assess the prevalence and associated factors of depression among insulin and oral hypoglycemic medication users with Diabetes Mellitus in public hospitals of Addis Ababa.

Methods: A comparative cross-sectional study was conducted in three selected public hospitals in Addis Ababa among 422 randomly selected study participants from October 1 2024, to November 30 2024.  Data were collected, entered, and cleaned by Epi Info 7 and analyzed using SPSS version 25. Descriptive statistics for categorical variables were presented in frequencies and percentages, and mean and inter-quartile range were used to describe continuous variables. Then, bivariate logistic regression analysis was performed for each independent variable regarding the presence of depression among DM patients. An adjusted odd ratio (AOR) with 95% confidence interval was used to identify associated variables for depression, and p-values < 0.05 were considered to indicate statistical significance.

Results : The prevalence of depression among DM patient was 54.27%(95% CI:49.4%-59.1%), and the prevalence of depression was  44.9% among DM participants taking oral hypoglycemic agents and 63.4% among insulin users (eventhough the difference in their mean depression scale score (8.54 Vs 9.66) was not significant (P=0.228). From  multivariable logistic regression analysis variables such as level of social support(AOR: 6.24; 95% CI:1.91-20.44), type of treatment(AOR: 0.095; 95% CI: 0.009-0.9), family history of depression (AOR:0.47;95% CI:0.29-0.75) and presence of diabetic complication(AOR: 3.22; 95% CI:1.97-5.27) were significantly associated factors at a P-value of<0.05 and a 95% CI.

Conclusion: . The overall prevalence of depression was un acceptably high and showed that more than half (54.27%) of DM patients stragle to live with depression and its bad qunesqences. According to the output from multivariable logistic regression analysis, poor level of social support and having diabetic complications were found to be risk factors for depression.Conversely,not having family history of depression and taking oral hypoglycemic agents were  proven to be protective factors of depression.