Background: There are a lot of studies on depressive disorders in a general hospital done across the world, but no data from Russia on this subject was found in international psychiatric journals or MEDLINE.
Aims: to determine the prevalence of depressive disorders in medical inpatients in Izhevsk, the capital of the Udmurt Republic, a region in Russia, and to identify associated factors.
Method: A sample of 323 adult medical inpatients was composed. The Russian version of the MINI 5.0.0 was used.
Results: The prevalence of lifetime and current depressive disorders was 30% and 20.7%, respectively. Depression was more common in women, widowed or divorced, retired or disabled, with low income and bad family relationships, and among respondents with a chronic somatic illness. Depression had a high comorbidity with organic mental and anxiety disorders. Only 40.3% of the individuals with depression had referred for psychiatric consultations, most of them being treated with fluvoxamine.
Conclusions: Prevalence of depression was substantial but consistent with other studies. Taking into consideration associated factors, physicians can improve recognition and treatment of depression in medical inpatients.