Prevalence of Severe Depression among Adolescents in Rural Area of Odisha, India

BACKGROUND: In adolescents, major depression is projected to rank the second most cause of human illness by the year 2022. Unfortunately, half of the depressed adolescents go undiagnosed in primary care settings. OBJECTIVES: The objective is to estimate the prevalence of severe depression among rural adolescents and also to identify few epidemiological determinants causing severe depression. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: This cross-sectional study included 341 adolescents from a selected village of Balasore, Odisha. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A semi-structured questionnaire, and “Beck's Depression Inventory II” questionnaire for screening depression. RESULTS: Only 24 (7%) of adolescents were found to be having severe depression. The subcategories of depression showed mild mood disturbance in 8.8%, borderline depression in 15.2%, and moderate depression in 12% individuals. Almost 267 (78.2%) were between 15 and 19 years of age. The mean age (standard deviation) of the participants was 16 ± 1.9 years. Majority of the participants belonged to joint family and lower middle-class status as per the Modified Kuppuswamy Scale. CONCLUSION: Female gender was found to be significantly associated with depression (P = 0.006). Other contributory factors for depression were sleep duration (<6 h), parental fighting, and socioeconomic status.