Prevalence of depression amongst adolescents in rural area of South India – a school based cross sectional study

Introduction:Depression is common in adolescents and especially in high school students and is one of the most frequent mental disorders among teenagers. Depression in adolescents is an under recognized mental health problem because they remain indecisive to disclose their feelings and seldom seek psychiatric help. One of the factors that make depression so difficult to diagnose in adolescents is the common behavioural changes that are normally associated with the hormonal changes of this period. It has only been in recent years that the medical community has acknowledged childhood depression and viewed it as a condition which requires intervention.Materials and Methods:Aschool based cross-sectional study among adolescents was conducted by using self-administered structured “Patient Health Questionnaire-9 modified for Adolescents (PHQ-A) questionnaire” in rural field practice area of A.J.Instituteof Medical Sciences & Research Center, Mangaluru.Results:Total 284 students participated in the study and prevalence of depression was 49%. Prevalence of depression increased with age (p-value:0.001) and was higher among females (p-value:0.02).Discussion:Prevalence of depression in this study matched with other studies conducted in India. Majority of the students suffered from mild depression which indicates early diagnosis is crucial in prevention of progression to moderate and severe forms of depression.Conclusion:Prevalence of depression among adolescents is high. There is an urgent need for incorporation of simple screening methods for depression in school health program.