Depressive Symptoms at the Muhimbili National Hospital MAT Clinic, Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Background Globally, the number of people who use substances has rapidly increased over the past decade and has become a public health problem. Co-morbidity of mental disorders and substance use disorder has been well documented with disproportionately higher diagnosis for depression been made in patients with substance use disorders including heroin users. Limited number of studies have examined the phenomenon of symptoms of depression among MAT clients in Tanzania setting and none has proposed the probable interventions.
Broad objective To determine the prevalence and factors associated with depressive symptoms among methadone using clients attending MAT clinic at Muhimbili National Hospital in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
Methods Hospital based cross-sectional study was conducted using quantitative methods and utilizing the Patient Health questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) as screeners for depressive symptoms, a semi-structured questionnaire for socio-demographic information and clinical characteristics, Adverse Childhood Experiences-10 (ACE-10) for adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS) for perceived social support. A total of 341 methadone using clients were recruited via systematic and stratified sampling techniques. Analysis was conducted using statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 23. Univariate analysis, logistic regression for Bivariate and Multivariate analysis presented as Odds ratios with 95% confidence interval and p<0.05 were conducted.
Results Overall, 310 (90.9%) participants were males. Mean age was 39.37 (SD7.42) years. Prevalence of depressive symptoms was 36.7%. Risk of depressive symptoms increased by having a history of incarceration [aOR=2.87, 95%CI (1.70–4.86), ρ=0.000] and low perceived social support [aOR=4.03, 95%CI (1.78–9.15), ρ=0.001].
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