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Volume 27, Issue 135, May 2023

PHQ-9 to screen for depression in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Amar Fathi Mohamed Khalifa¹, Abdulrahman Bashir Ahmed Hussamuldin^2♦, Rawaf Muhammed Alkhathran², Abdulalziz Abdullah Alghamdi², Abdallah Adnan Rifaey², Abdullah Moheeb Alabdullah², Bakr Zuhair Raddawi², Malik Mohammed Almansour², Rayan Saleh Almogheer², Samer Ahssan Alawi², Khalid Riyadh Malaekkah², Mohammed Almahdi Balla Elnour³, Hassan Idress Omer⁴

¹Assistant Professor Community Medicine, College of Medicine, Al Maarefa University, Saudi Arabia
²Medical Student, Al Maarefa University, Saudi Arabia
³Lecturer Community Medicine, College of Medicine, Al Maarefa University, Saudi Arabia
⁴Lecturer, Biostatistics College of applied Sciences, Al Maarefa University, Saudi Arabia

^♦Corresponding author
Medical Student, Al Maarefa University, Saudi Arabia

ABSTRACT

Background: Depression is a prevalent mental condition characterized by poor mood, loss of function and impaired focus. We aim to assess prevalence of depression among adolescents and adults in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in April 2022 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, with 166 participants selected by convenience sampling, data collected by a paper-based self-administered questionnaire using patient health questionnaire PHQ-9 and the extremely ill eliminated using SPSS V.23 to analyze the data. A p-value of 0.05 percent or less is deemed significant. Result: The majority of participants were female (58%) and between the ages of 15 and 20 (73%), had experienced a traumatic event (62%) and a stressful event (80%), were not married (78%), did not have chronic diseases (83%), were not dependent on alcohol or drugs (97%), led an isolated life in society (60%) and were bullied (60%), lost interest (42%), felt hopeless (36%), had sleep problems (32%), felt tired (41%), lost their appetite (35%) and did not consider suicide. In Prevalence of Depression, the majority had mild depression (31%), moderate depression (27%), minimal depression (24%), moderately severe depression (11%) and severe depression (4%). From the mild depression, the majority was males (21%) and females (35%), with higher education (35%) and a stressful event was the most common risk factor (80%). Conclusion: There was a significant association between depression and education level, as the prevalence of depression increased with university education.

Keywords: Depression, Psychological disorder, Discouragement, Hopelessness