Prevalence of depressive symptoms and its related factors among students at Tra Vinh University, Vietnam in 2018.

Nguyen Thi Hong Tuyen,Huynh Thi Hong Nhung,Truong Quang Dat

doi:10.3934/publichealth.2019.3.307

Nguyen Thi Hong Tuyen, Huynh Thi Hong Nhung + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.3934/publichealth.2019.3.307

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Journal: AIMS Public Health	Publication Date: Jan 1, 2019
Citations: 12	License type: cc-by

Affiliation: Tra Vinh University

Abstract

ObjectiveThe study was conducted to estimate the prevalence of depressive symptoms and its related factors among students at Tra Vinh University, Vietnam.MethodsThe instrument used was a questionnaire of socioeconomic-demographic characteristics, educational characteristics, and the self-reported depression scale collected from the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression (CES-D) originally published by Radloff in 1977. Scores of 16–21 were considered as mild to moderate symptoms of depression, and scores above 21 were considered as symptoms of major depression. The Chi-square test was performed to compare prevalences.Results405 students (with 136 males and 269 females) aged 19 to 27 (the average age was 20.2) were interviewed. The mean score for the CES-D was 15.98, and the overall prevalence of depressive symptoms was 52.3%, including the mild to moderate symptoms of depression (24.2%) and the major depression (20.7%). The prevalence occupied 72.2% among students in poor and near-poor households (aOR = 3.06, 95% CI = 1.38–6.76, p = 0.006). The prevalence also was higher among those who had been drinking alcohol (59.7% with aOR = 2.02, 95% CI = 1.15–3.53, p = 0.014).). Depressive symptoms among first-year students were 39.9%, and 2nd-year students were 42.5% and tended to increase to 4th-year students (47.1%) with the p-value of 0.019.ConclusionThe overall prevalence of depression is relatively high among university students at Tra Vinh University, Vietnam. The prevalencesignificantly associates with characteristics such as household economics, behaviours and number of years studying at university. These results suggest that more attention should be directed to activities to reduce the prevalence of depressive symptoms, especially among students in the final years.

Highlights

Depression is a common mental disorder, characterized by persistent sadness and a loss of interest in activities that one usually enjoys, accompanied by an inability to carry out daily activities, for at least two weeks [1]
The instrument used was a questionnaire of socioeconomic-demographic characteristics, educational characteristics, and the self-reported depression scale collected from the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression (CES-D) originally published by Radloff in 1977
The results revealed that the mean CES-D score was 15.98 and 52.3% of students at Tra Vinh University exhibited depressive symptoms (CES-D scores of 16 or above)

Summary

Introduction

Depression is a common mental disorder, characterized by persistent sadness and a loss of interest in activities that one usually enjoys, accompanied by an inability to carry out daily activities, for at least two weeks [1]. The symptoms of depression start at an early stage. They either remain persistent or increase at the alarming state, depending on the exposure to the environment and the potential capacity throughout the life of an individual [2]. The total number of people with depression was estimated to exceed 300 million in 2015 [3]. The global depression prevalence is estimated to be 4.4%. Depression is ranked by the World Health Organization (WHO) as the single most significant contributor to global disability (7.5% of all years lived with disability in 2015). Depression is the major contributor to suicide deaths, which went up about 800,000 for each year [4]

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Results

Conclusion