Depression is associated with chronic physical illnesses and negatively affects health outcomes. However, it often goes undiagnosed and untreated. We investigated the prevalence of depression among adult type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients attending non-communicable diseases (NCD) clinics in Lilongwe, Malawi, and estimated the level of routine detection by NCD clinicians. This study set out to determine the prevalence of major depression and its detection among adult type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients attending NCD clinics in Lilongwe, Malawi. In a cross-sectional study design, 323 T2DM patients aged ≥ 18 years were screened for depression with the Patient Health Questionnare-9 (PHQ-9) followed by diagnostic assessment with the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID). We analysed the association between presence of major depression and sociodemographic factors using logistic regression. Three quarters of the participants (76%) were females. The participants’ ages ranged from 21–79 years. Of the 323 participants, 58 (18%) met criteria for DSM-IV major depression. None of the cases of major depression had been identified by the NCD clinicians. Major depression was found not to be significantly associated with any of the sociodemographic factors. We found that depression is common among NCD clinic attendees with T2DM in Malawi, and poorly detected by NCD clinicians. Given the high prevalence and challenges in clinical identification, integration of depression screening with a standardized validated tool should be a high priority so as to link patients to appropriate services.

中文翻译：

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马拉维利隆圭参加非传染性疾病门诊的成人2型糖尿病患者的抑郁症检测和患病率

抑郁症与慢性身体疾病相关，并会对健康结果产生负面影响。但是，它经常得不到诊断和治疗。我们调查了在马拉维利隆圭参加非传染性疾病（NCD）诊所的成人2型糖尿病（T2DM）患者中抑郁症的患病率，并估算了NCD临床医生的常规检测水平。这项研究旨在确定在马拉维利隆圭的NCD诊所就诊的成年2型糖尿病（T2DM）患者中主要抑郁症的患病率及其检测方法。在一项横断面研究设计中，对323名≥18岁的T2DM患者进行了抑郁症患者健康问卷9（PHQ-9）筛查，然后通过DSM-IV结构性临床访谈（SCID）进行了诊断评估。我们使用逻辑回归分析了主要抑郁症与社会人口统计学因素之间的关联。四分之三的参与者（76％）是女性。参与者的年龄在21-79岁之间。在323名参与者中，有58名（18％）达到了DSM-IV重度抑郁的标准。NCD临床医生没有发现任何严重的抑郁症病例。发现严重抑郁与任何社会人口统计学因素均无显着相关。我们发现，抑郁症在马拉维T2DM的NCD诊所参与者中很常见，而NCD的临床医生很少发现。考虑到临床识别的高患病率和挑战，将抑郁症筛查与标准化的经过验证的工具相集成应该成为当务之急，以便将患者与适当的服务联系起来。