Epidemiological Characteristics of Major Depression of Hospitalized Patients in Psychiatric Hospital “Demir Hisar” – Demir Hisar for a Five Year Period from 2013 to 2017

Abstract

<jats:p>BACKGROUND: Severe depression is a mental disorder with a wide range of changes in psychic functions, primarily of affectivity, and is manifested by dysphoric mood and reductive changes in cognitive, conative, and other psychic dynamics, with the presence of psychosomatic complaints and suicidal thoughts. There is always a triad of symptoms: Alteration of affectivity, anhedonia, and low energy with fatigue, but in her clinical picture, there are other symptoms, such as feeling guilty and helpless, obsessed with “black thoughts” with loss of confidence in themselves, with hopelessness, loss of appetite, and weight loss with present insomnia or hypersomnia, and more frequent thinking about death due to the feeling of worthlessness of life. This mental illness covers a vast area of the affective life of a human with a broad spectrum classified by ICD - 10- F 32, F 32.2, and F 32.3. AIM: The main goal is to determine the total number of patients with the major depression treated at “Demir Hisar” Psychiatric Hospital for a period of 5 years, retrospectively in 2013 until 2017 and to determine the impact of socio-demographic variables as risk factors and predictors. METHODS: The study is retrospective, and the necessary parameters for achieving the goals of the research are provided by analyzing the medical histories of all hospitalized patients treated in psychiatric hospitals Demir Hisar in the period from 2013 to 2017. Incidence rates and indexes of the dynamics of hospitalized patients with major depression were determined. RESULTS: About 61.8% of the patients are men and 38.2% women. Patients with no education and elementary school were 64.5% versus patients with high school and university 35.5% and are significantly underpowered. Regarding the employment status, 38.2% of patients are unemployed, and 61.8% of patients are employed. According to the cross-sectional study, 64.7% of men without education have severe depression and live in the city, and 53.3% of women with secondary education live in urban areas (city), meaning rural residence is associated with a reduced rate of severe depression. CONCLUSION: We can conclude that socio-demographic characteristics – age, gender, marital status, level of education, employment/unemployment status, and place of residence are related to the severity of depression.</jats:p>