Prevalence, social-demographic and cognitive correlates of depression in Chinese psychiatric medical staff

Abstract

Background: The high prevalence of depression in general population was related to its social-demographics and cognitive performance. However, no studies investigated the prevalence of depression, its social-demographic and cognitive correlates in psychiatric medical staff. Thus, the aims of this study investigated the prevalence, social-demographic and cognitive correlates of depression in Chinese psychiatric medical staff.

Methods: 186 Chinese psychiatric medical staff were enrolled in Wenzhou Kangning Hospital. Depressive symptom score was assessed by the Self-rating Depression Scale (SDS). Cognition was assessed by the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS).

Results: The prevalence of depression was 17.74% in these medical staff. The RBANS total score in participants with depressive symptom was significantly lower than that in participants with not depressive symptom after controlling for the confounding variables. The Person correlation analysis found that the normal SDS score in these medical staff was significantly related to age, education, occupations, RBANS total score and subscale scores. Stepwise multivariate regression analysis further identified that age and RBANS total score were significantly associated with the normal SDS score in these medical staff.

Limitations: The limitations included cross-sectional study design, the small sample size, and the self-rating scale of depression.

Conclusions: The prevalence of depression in Chinese psychiatric medical staff was higher in comparison with Chinese general population, but lower in comparison with Chinese medical staff. Cognitive deficits might be considered a core feather of depression that should be a valuable target for future interventions. Age influenced depressive symptom in these medical staff .

Keywords: Cognition; Depression; Prevalence; Psychiatric medical staff.