American Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience

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Prevalence of Depressive Illness Among Patients with Asthmatic Disease Attending the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH)

Received: 24 December 2015    Accepted: 13 January 2016    Published: 31 January 2016
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Abstract

Asthmatic disease is a chronic distressing respiratory disease. Many sufferers of asthmatic diseases tend to have co morbid depressive illness of variable severity due to the psychological/emotional burden associated with the disease. There is currently a paucity of data on the exact prevalence of depressive illness associated with patients with Asthma in this environment. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of depressive illness in patients with asthmatic disease attending the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH). Consent for the study was obtained from the Ethical Committee of the hospital. Patients for the study were recruited from different departments of the hospital. Asthmatics patients recruited were only those diagnosed by Consultant Physicians in the Departments of study, who have been on treatment for at least a period of 6 months. Also, subjects whose psychiatric illness preceded the asthmatic disease were equally excluded from the study. A socio-demographic questionnaire as well as the Beck’s Depressive Inventory (BDI) was used as study instruments. The data obtained were analyzed using the SPSS version 20. Confidence interval was set at 95% and a P value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. A total of 46 patients were enlisted into the study. Out of the total number of 46 patients, 31(67.4%) of them were found to have depressive illness (56% mild, 29% moderate and 15% had major depressive illness). Five patients representing 10.9% had suicidal ideation and 2(4.3%) had actually attempted at least on two occasions. 65% mostly of the mild depressive illness were not aware of their mental ill-health. Only 9% of those who were aware of their psychiatric condition had sought psychiatric intervention. From the study, the prevalence of depressive illness among asthmatic patients in UPTH is high and many of the patients appear unfortunately not to receive appropriately treatment as diagnosis and referral are still relatively inadequate and imprecise. There is therefore, great need for awareness of the existence of this comorbidity as well as institution of appropriate identification measures and subsequent referral for appropriate treatment. This will undoubtedly improve the management of asthmatics as well as their quality of life.

DOI 10.11648/j.ajpn.20160401.13
Published in American Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience (Volume 4, Issue 1, January 2016)
Page(s) 13-17
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Prevalence, Depressive Illness, Asthmatic Disease, UPTH

References
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Author Information
  • Department of Neuropsychiatry, University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, Port Harcourt, Nigeria

  • Department of Preventive and Social Medicine, University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, Port Harcourt, Nigeria

  • Department of Neuropsychiatry, University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, Port Harcourt, Nigeria

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    Nkporbu Aborlo Kennedy, Ojule Inumanye Nkechi, Stanley Princewill Chukwuemeka. (2016). Prevalence of Depressive Illness Among Patients with Asthmatic Disease Attending the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH). American Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, 4(1), 13-17. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajpn.20160401.13

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    Nkporbu Aborlo Kennedy; Ojule Inumanye Nkechi; Stanley Princewill Chukwuemeka. Prevalence of Depressive Illness Among Patients with Asthmatic Disease Attending the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH). Am. J. Psychiatry Neurosci. 2016, 4(1), 13-17. doi: 10.11648/j.ajpn.20160401.13

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    AMA Style

    Nkporbu Aborlo Kennedy, Ojule Inumanye Nkechi, Stanley Princewill Chukwuemeka. Prevalence of Depressive Illness Among Patients with Asthmatic Disease Attending the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH). Am J Psychiatry Neurosci. 2016;4(1):13-17. doi: 10.11648/j.ajpn.20160401.13

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ajpn.20160401.13,
      author = {Nkporbu Aborlo Kennedy and Ojule Inumanye Nkechi and Stanley Princewill Chukwuemeka},
      title = {Prevalence of Depressive Illness Among Patients with Asthmatic Disease Attending the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH)},
      journal = {American Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience},
      volume = {4},
      number = {1},
      pages = {13-17},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ajpn.20160401.13},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajpn.20160401.13},
      eprint = {https://download.sciencepg.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajpn.20160401.13},
      abstract = {Asthmatic disease is a chronic distressing respiratory disease. Many sufferers of asthmatic diseases tend to have co morbid depressive illness of variable severity due to the psychological/emotional burden associated with the disease. There is currently a paucity of data on the exact prevalence of depressive illness associated with patients with Asthma in this environment. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of depressive illness in patients with asthmatic disease attending the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH). Consent for the study was obtained from the Ethical Committee of the hospital. Patients for the study were recruited from different departments of the hospital. Asthmatics patients recruited were only those diagnosed by Consultant Physicians in the Departments of study, who have been on treatment for at least a period of 6 months. Also, subjects whose psychiatric illness preceded the asthmatic disease were equally excluded from the study. A socio-demographic questionnaire as well as the Beck’s Depressive Inventory (BDI) was used as study instruments. The data obtained were analyzed using the SPSS version 20. Confidence interval was set at 95% and a P value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. A total of 46 patients were enlisted into the study. Out of the total number of 46 patients, 31(67.4%) of them were found to have depressive illness (56% mild, 29% moderate and 15% had major depressive illness). Five patients representing 10.9% had suicidal ideation and 2(4.3%) had actually attempted at least on two occasions. 65% mostly of the mild depressive illness were not aware of their mental ill-health. Only 9% of those who were aware of their psychiatric condition had sought psychiatric intervention. From the study, the prevalence of depressive illness among asthmatic patients in UPTH is high and many of the patients appear unfortunately not to receive appropriately treatment as diagnosis and referral are still relatively inadequate and imprecise. There is therefore, great need for awareness of the existence of this comorbidity as well as institution of appropriate identification measures and subsequent referral for appropriate treatment. This will undoubtedly improve the management of asthmatics as well as their quality of life.},
     year = {2016}
    }
    

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