Symptoms of depression among patients attending a diabetes care clinic in rural western Kenya

Abstract

bjective: The prevalence of diabetes in sub-Saharan Africa is rising, but its relationship to depression is not well-characterized. This report describes depressive symptom prevalence and associations with adherence and outcomes among patients with diabetes in a rural, resource-constrained setting. Methods: In the Webuye, Kenya diabetes clinic, we conducted a chart review, analyzing data including medication adherence, hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), clinic attendance, and PHQ-2 depression screening results. Results: Among 253 patients, 20.9% screened positive for depression. Prevalence in females was higher than in males; 27% vs 15% ( p ¼ 0.023). Glycemic control trends were better in those screening negative; at 24 months post-enrollment mean HbA1c was 7.5 for those screening negative and 9.5 for those screening positive ( p ¼ 0.0025). There was a nonsigni fi cant ( p ¼ 0.269) trend toward loss to follow-up among those screening positive. Conclusions: These fi ndings suggest that depression is common among people with diabetes in rural western Kenya, which may profoundly impact diabetes control and treatment adherence. Ó 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license