title: Prevalence of recognised and unrecognised depression among medical and surgical patients in a tertiary care hospital.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To observe the prevalence of recognised and unrecognised depression among in-patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  The cross-sectional study was conducted from June 2012 to May 2013 at a tertiary care hospital in Karachi, and comprised patients admitted in the Medicine and Surgical departments at the time. Patients with known history of depression or on anti-depressants or on anti-psychotics, or with suicidal attempt were excluded. The prevalence of unrecognised depression was then perceived using Patient Health Qurstionnaire-9. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS 20.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 1180 patients, 432(36.6%) either had history of depression or on were on anti-depressants. The study sample, as such, comprised 748(65%), and of them 399(53%) were from the Medicine and 349(47%) patients were from Surgery department. Prevalence of recognised depression was 36.6%; 48% in Medical and 14% in Surgical patients. Unrecognised depression was 51.2%; 45.3% in Medical and 53.6 in Surgical patients. Overall prevalence was 87.9%; 93.4% in Medical and 53% in Surgical patients. Gender was not found to be significantly associated with depression in Medical (p= 0.367) and Surgical (p=0.606) patients. No depression was found in 48(12%) Medical patients and 131(37.5%) Surgical patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  More than one-third of in-patients had co-morbid depression diagnoses, mostly unrecognised by their clinicians.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Karachi Medical and Dental College and Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Attiya Sabeen
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Rahman
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Civil Hospital Karachi, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Adnan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Aziz
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Karachi Medical and Dental College and Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Qaiser
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Jamal
authors.affiliation: School of Health Sciences, Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh.
authors.forename: Muhammad Asadullah
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Siddiqui
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Karachi Medical and Dental College and Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Mehwish
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Riaz
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Civil Hospital Karachi, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Rabbiya
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ali
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003863:Depression / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010154:Pakistan; D015995:Prevalence; D013503:Surgery Department, Hospital; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D062606:Tertiary Care Centers; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Depression, Mental health, Prevalence, Patient health questionnaire, PHQ-9, Tertiary care.