Prevalence, risk factors and recognition rates of depressive disorders among inpatients of tertiary general hospitals in Shanghai, China

Abstract Objective To investigate the prevalence, risk factors and recognition rates of depressive disorders among inpatients of tertiary general hospitals in Shanghai, China. Methods A total of 784 inpatients were randomly selected from three tertiary general hospitals and evaluated with a Chinese version of the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview 5.0 by ten trained psychiatrists. A questionnaire, containing socio-demographic and clinical data, and a social support scale were also administered to subjects during the course of the clinical interview. Logistic regression was used to identify factors that were associated with depression. Results The current prevalence rates (95% confidence intervals) of any depressive disorder and major depressive disorder (MDD) were found to be 13.1% (10.7%–15.5%) and 6.9% (5.1%–8.7%), respectively. The risk factors for depression included poor marital status, living alone or with others, lack of medical insurance, poor or very poor self-rated physical health, hospitalization in the internal medicine department, and a subjective support score ≤ 23. Only 18.5% of the patients with current MDD were detected. Conclusion Depression, especially MDD, has been a major mental health problem for Chinese tertiary general hospitals. There is an urgent need for the development of efficacious hospital-based consultation-liaison psychiatry programs aimed at improving Chinese physicians' recognition and ability to manage inpatient depression.