title: Epidemiological study of the prevalence of depressive disorders in primary health care in Morocco.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine the prevalence and the impact of depressive disorders in primary health care and its associated factors.
  
  
  METHODS
  It's a cross-sectional study with 351 participants selected from Moroccan primary care facilities, aged above 18 years without chronic somatic or psychiatric disease. The participants answered a questionnaire that included demographic characteristics, the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview for major depressive episode (MDE), dysthymic disorder and the Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF). Statistical analysis was performed by the SPSS 13.0 software.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The prevalence of depressive disorders in the sample was 13.7%, that of MDE was 9.1%, while dysthymic disorder was 4.3%, the rate of recurrent depressive episodes was 38.2% (6% of participants), and the prevalence of depression over a lifetime was 17.7%. The percentage of depression was higher among women than men (P = 0.01). 6.3% of depressed patients have already attempted to suicide. Analysis of GAF scores showed an average of 76.2 ± 24, a lower score was significantly found among patients with current MDE (P = 0.001), dysthymic subjects (P = 0.001) and those who suffer from recurrent MDE (P = 0.001). Depressive disorders in univariate analysis were associated with: Female gender P = 0.01 odds ratio (OR) 2.1 (1.09-4.3), unemployment P = 0.02 OR 0.4 (0.2-0.9), and childbearing age P = 0.004 OR 3.5 (1.5-8). Adjusted OR has not demonstrated a significant association.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The high prevalence of depressive disorders, suicide risk, and the alteration of the quality of life among primary health care patients in Morocco suggest the importance of identifying and treating this population.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Mohammed I University, Oujda, Morocco.
authors.forename: Bouchra
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Oneib
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Mohammed V University, Rabat, Morocco.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sabir
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology Faculty of Medicine, Mohammed I University, Oujda, Morocco.
authors.forename: Naima
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Abda
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Mohammed V University, Rabat, Morocco.
authors.forename: Abderazak
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ouanass
keywords: Associated factors; Morocco; depressive disorders; prevalence; primary health care