Prevalencia de depresión y factores asociados en pacientes con hipotiroidismo que acuden a consulta externa del Hospital Vicente Corral Moscoso, Cuenca - 2018

Abstract

Background: Some studies worldwide have been seeking statistical association between hypothyroidism and the development of depression; despite of the controversial results, researches show that depression is a prevalent entity in patients with hypothyroidism.

Objective: To determine the prevalence of depression and the associated factors in patients with hypothyroidism who attend at Vicente Corral Moscoso Hospital’s outpatient clinic of endocrinology.

Methodology: Quantitative, analytical and transversal study. The universe consisted of 1074 hypothyroid patients, with a sample of 133. Techniques used: observation and survey, applying the Hamilton test for depression. The processing and analysis of the information was performed in SPSS 25. The prevalence ratio, chi-square, Odds Ratio, were obtained with a confidence interval of 95% and p <0.05. In addition, nonparametric tests were used: U of Mann Withney and Rho of Spearman.

Results: The prevalence of depression in patients with hypothyroidism is 62.4%. It was identified that the level of education and employment status are the only ones that present a statistically significant association, constituting protection factors (OR 0.41, p = 0.015, OR 0.45, p = 0.027). In addition, it was found that there is a slight direct relationship between the depression score and the age of the participants (rs = 0.175, 0.045).

Conclusion: There is a high prevalence of depression in patients with hypothyroidism; likewise, a high level of education and having employment provide protection for the development of depression.