Marital quality and its relation with depression: a case-control study

Background: Marital relationship may be adversely affected due to depression in spouse. Usually the non-affected partner is main caregiver and responsible for caregiving. Methods: This was cross sectional case control study with sample size of 252 subjects (151 cases and 151 healthy controls). Cases were diagnosed as per DSM-IV-TR criteria. Quality of marriage was assessed using Marital Quality Scale. Results: Quality of marital relationship was significantly poor among cases. Marital quality further worsened with severity of Depression. Conclusions: Depression negatively affects quality of marriage.