Prevalence and Determinants of Depression among Hypothyroidism Patients in Aseer Region, Southern Saudi Arabia

Background: Neuropsychiatric disorders constitute about 14% of the total worldwide burden of morbidity. Depression, as the commonest chronic neuropsychiatric illness, could cause a low quality of life. As depression is always linked to changes in the hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid (HPT) axis, studies proved its significant relation with evident hypothyroidism. Aim: The present study intended to measure the prevalence and predictors of depression among patients with hypothyroidism in the Aseer region, southern Saudi Arabia. Methods: A descriptive, cross-sectional study was carried out for three months during the period from 15th March 2019 to 15th June 2019, to estimate the prevalence of depression among hypothyroid patients attending endocrinology clinics in Armed Forces Hospital. Data were collected using a direct interview questionnaire which covered patients' personal, clinical, and medication data. Depression assessment was done based on the Patients Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9). Results: The current study included 395 patients aged between 18 and 80 years old with a mean age of 40 +/- 13 years old, from which. 321 (81.3%) cases were females. Depression was recorded among 341 hypothyroid cases (86.3%) whose 33.7% bad a major depressive disorder. Conclusion: In conclusion, the current study strengthened the clue of the association between hypothyroidism and depression disorders. The majority of cases had depression symptoms which might be severe in some of them. More studies are needed with a large scale sample to keep the foot in this ambiguous association.