Abstract:
Back ground: Depression among epileptic patients has multiple effects: poor quality of life,
increased seizure frequency, risk of suicide and increased health care cost. It is often under
recognized and untreated among these patients. This study is therefore aimed to assess the
prevalence of depression and its associated factors among epileptic patients in public health
facilities of Bench Maji zone, south west Ethiopia.
Objective: The objective of this study was to assess prevalence of depression and its associated
factors among epileptic patients on treatment follow up at public health facilities of Bench Maji
zone, south west Ethiopia,2017.
Methods: Institution based quantitative cross-sectional study design was conducted in public
health facilities of Bench Maji zone. Face to face interview was used to collect data with semi
structured questionnaires adapted from different literatures. Beck depression inventory was used
to assess depression. The study involved 247 adult participants who were selected by systematic
random sampling. Data were collected from March 3- April 3 2017. Data were categorized,
coded, entered in EPI info 3.5.1 and exported to SPSS 21.0 for analysis. Bivariate and
multivariate logistic regression analysis were used to describe the association of dependent and
independent variables. P value less than 0.05 was considered as significant in multivariate
logistic regression analysis.
Result: out of 247 aimed sample, 244 involved in the study and yields a response rate of 98.8%.
The prevalence of depression among patients with epilepsy was 51.2%. Of these; 60%, 36%, and
4% of the patients were found to have mild, moderate and severe depression respectively. Low
educational status (AOR=2.5, CI (1.32, 4.78)), Seizure frequencies >=3 per month (AOR=3.06,
CI (1.412, 6.65)), Age at onset of epilepsy <=11years (AOR=4.58, CI (1.94, 10.82)), low antiepileptic drug adherence (AOR=4.81, CI (2.32, 9.97)) and poor knowledge about epilepsy
(AOR=2.77,CI(1.5,5.12)) were found to be independent factors of depression among epileptic
patients.
Conclusion and recommendations: The prevalence of depression among the adult patients with
epilepsy wash high, although the levels of depression varied. Routine early depression screening
for early recognition and treatment should be done in people living with epilepsy.
