Frequency and Sociodemographic Determinants of Depression in Patients with Chronic Liver Disease

Objective: To determine the frequency and Sociodemographic determinants of depression in patients with chronic liver disease. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among CLD patients with 15-50 years of age of either gender having at least 6 months of illness duration were included. The depression among CLD patients were observed through PHQ-9 scoring system. This information along with patient age, gender, marital status, educational status, employment status, socioeconomic status, duration of illness and PHQ-9 scores were collected. Results: A total of 143 patients were included. Majority (n=77, 53.85%) patients were presented with <45 years of age. There were 73 (51.05%) females and 70 (48.95%) males. Frequency of depression was observed in 45 (31.47%) patients. A significant association of depression was observed with age (p-value 0.011), gender (pvalue <0.001), educational status (p-value 0.002), employment status (p-value 0.022), and socioeconomic status (p-value <0.001). Conclusion: This study has found depression to be remarkably prevalent among patients with Chronic Liver Disease with age, gender, educational status, employment status, and socioeconomic status as significant risk factors.