ABSTRACT

In our society, people’s health behaviors are considered a dilemma that can intensify the probability of developing a disease in the future. This study aimed to investigate the association between health risk behaviors and depression among a sample of university students, Karachi, Pakistan. A self-reported health behavior questionnaire was distributed to 813 consented students. The Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression (CES-D-10) questionnaire was used, a short, self-report scale that measures the recent level of depressive symptomatology, primarily focusing on depressed mood. Their results were further compared with some important health behaviors and social activities. At the univariate stage, the chi-square test was executed to compare the characteristics of categorical variables with depression status. The effect size was measured in terms of the odds ratio (OR) using logistic regression models. According to the adopted classification of CES-D, one out of eight students were found to be depressed. Among students’, females were found to be 70% more depressed than males (OR: 1.7, 95% CI: 0.9–3.0). Depression was higher among students who were not satisfied with their lives, were socially isolated, had trouble sleeping, little control over things, and the future depends on others. The chances of depression were 90% higher among students who did not share private concerns with others (P = 0.01). Overall, depression prevalence was 12.5%, and it was associated with dissatisfaction with life, social isolation, insomnia, and others. Female students were found to be more depressed compared to males.

摘要

在我们的社会中，人们的健康行为被认为是一个两难选择，可以加剧未来患病的可能性。这项研究旨在调查巴基斯坦卡拉奇的大学生样本中健康风险行为与抑郁之间的关联。一份自我报告的健康行为问卷已分发给813名同意的学生。使用了抑郁症流行病学研究中心（CES-D-10）问卷，该问卷是一种简短的自我报告量表，用于衡量近期抑郁症状的水平，主要关注抑郁情绪。他们的结果与一些重要的健康行为和社交活动作了进一步比较。在单变量阶段，执行卡方检验以比较分类变量与抑郁状态的特征。使用逻辑回归模型以比值比（OR）衡量效应大小。根据采用的CES-D分类，发现八分之一的学生感到沮丧。在学生中，女性的抑郁感比男性高70％（OR：1.7，95％CI：0.9–3.0）。对生活不满意，与世隔绝的人，入睡困难，对事物的控制不大以及未来取决于他人的学生中，抑郁症的患病率更高。与他人没有私人忧虑的学生中，患抑郁症的几率高90％（P = 0.01）。总体而言，抑郁症患病率为12.5％，与对生活的不满，社交孤立，失眠等有关。发现女学生比男生更加沮丧。