Biological and Environmental Correlates of Post-Menopausal Depression Among Gopd Attendees in Fmc, Lokoja, Nigeria.

BACKGROUND: Depression is a chronic debilitating illness that is a component of the menopausal syndrome that adversely affects the quality of life of the sufferers and tremendously burdens their family and care givers. With the increase in average life expectancy, more women go through the postmenopausal phase for much longer and are therefore prone to the morbidity and complications of depressive illness associated with it. Certain biological and environmental factors influence the prevalence of depression among this cohort. Hence, the study sought to determine the biological and environmental factors influencing depression prevalence in postmenopausal women with a view to instituting prevention strategies.

METHODOLOGY: This cross-sectional, descriptive study was carried out in the General Outpatient Department of the Federal Medical Centre in Lokoja, North-Central region of Nigeria. One hundred and three postmenopausal women were screened for depression using the Center for Epidemiologic Study Depression (CES-D) questionnaire. Chi square test was used to compare the demographic variables with the pattern of depression with significance level set at p<0.05.

RESULTS: Prevalence of depression was 46.5%.There was no significant relationship between depression prevalence and age (p=0.1479), marital status (p=0.15208), number of years post menopause (p=0.05067), and level of education (p=0.100655). Severity of postmenopausal symptoms, however, was significantly associated with depression prevalence (p=0.01371).

CONCLUSION: Depression is highly prevalent among postmenopausal women and therefore there is need for effective preventive measures including routine screening, early detection and prompt management of depression and menopausal symptoms.