Epidemiological study of the prevalence of depressive disorders in primary health care in Morocco

OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence and the impact of depressive disorders in primary health care and its associated factors. METHODOLOGY: 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. CONCLUSION: 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.