Prevalence and Factors Associated with Depression among Medical Students at Makerere University, Uganda

Figures & data

Table 1 Sociodemographic Characteristics of the Participants (n=331)

	n	%
Age (median, range)	22	18–40
18–25 years	285	86
26–35 years	43	13
>36 years	3	1
Sex
Female	133	40
Male	196	59
Prefer not to say	2	1
Year of study
First	82	25
Second	68	21
Third	73	22
Fourth	55	17
Fifth	53	16
Religion
Anglican	90	27
Atheist/none	11	3
Buddhist	1	0
Christian	3	1
Muslim	32	10
Pentecostal	59	18
Presbyterian	1	0
Roman Catholic	116	35
Seventh Day Adventist	16	5
Traditional	2	1
Tuition funding
Government	189	57
Nongovernmental organisation	2	1
Private	116	35
Self	24	7
Marital status
Divorced	4	1
Married	16	5
Relationship	54	16
Single	257	78

Table 2 Prevalence of Depression Among Medical Students at Makerere University (n=331)

	Depression		P-value
	Yes (%)	No (%)
All participants	71 (21.5)	260 (78.5)
Age, years
18–25	60 (84.5)	225 (86.5)	0.527
26– 35	11 (15.5)	32 (12.3)
>36	0	3 (1.2)
Sex
Female	30 (42.3)	103 (39.6)	0.713
Male	41 (57.7)	155 (59.6)
Prefer not to say	0	2 (0.8)
Year of study
First	15 (21.1)	67 (25.8)	0.043
Second	21 (29.6)	47 (18.1)
Third	20 (28.2)	53 (20.4)
Fourth	6 (8.5)	49 (18.8)
Fifth	9 (12.7)	44 (16.9)
Religion
Anglican	16 (22.5)	74 (28.5)	0.886
Atheist/none	2 (2.8)	9 (3.5)
Buddhist	0	1 (0.4)
Christian	0	3 (1.2)
Muslim	9 (12.7)	23 (8.8)
Pentecostal	12 (16.9)	47 (18.1)
Presbyterian	0	1 (0.4)
Roman Catholic	27 (38)	89 (34.2)
Seventh Day Adventist	4 (5.6)	12 (4.6)
Traditional	1 (1.4)	1 (0.4)
Tuition funding
Government	37 (52.1)	152 (58.5)	0.456
NGO	0	2 (0.8)
Private	30 (42.3)	86 (33.1)
Self	4 (5.6)	20 (7.7)
Marital status
Divorced	2 (2.8)	2 (0.8)	0.384
Married	2 (2.8)	14 (5.4)
Relationship	10 (14.1)	44 (16.9)
Single	57 (80.3)	200 (76.9)
Students worried in the past 2 weeks about
Tuition	13 (18.3)	31 (11.9)	0.160
Personal financial problems	37 (52.1)	130 (50)	0.752
Relationships	27 (38)	70 (26.9)	0.068
Lectures	32 (45.1)	68 (26.2)	0.002
Ward rounds	19 (26.8)	48 (18.5)	0.123
Examinations	44 (62)	161 (61.9)	0.994
Lacking free time	35 (49.3)	112 (43.1)	0.350
Long distance to school	19 (26.8)	64 (24.6)	0.712
Traumatic patient events at hospital	13 (18.3)	31 (11.9)	0.160
Academic performance	41 (57.7)	85 (32.7)	<0.001
Chronic illness	5 (7)	8 (3.1)	0.127
Major life event	7 (9.9)	21 (8.1)	0.632

Figure 1 Severity of depression among medical students with depressive symptomatology at Makerere University.

Table 3 Multivariate Regression Showing Factors Associated with Depression Among Medical Students at Makerere University

	aOR (95% CI)	P-value
Age, years
18–25	1.0
26–35	1.7 (0.5–5.4)	0.701
Sex
Female	1.0
Male	0.9 (0.5–1.7)	0.358
Year of study
First	1.0
Second	1.6 (0.7–3.8)	0.297
Third	1.3 (0.5–3.6)	0.560
Fourth	0.4 (0.1–1.2)	0.096
Fifth	0.7 (0.2–2.0)	0.455
Religion
Roman Catholic	1.0
Anglican	0.6 (0.3–1.3)	0.216
Atheist/none	0.2 (0.0–3.1)	0.278
Muslim	1.0 (0.4–2.8)	0.953
Pentecostal	0.7 (0.3–1.6)	0.380
Seventh Day Adventist	2.5 (0.6–10.1)	0.198
Tuition funding
Government	1.0
Private	1.6 (0.8–3.1)	0.204
Self	0.3 (0.1–1.8)	0.206
Marital status
Single	1.0
Divorced	8.5 (0.5–145.4)	0.139
Married	0.5 (0.1–3.9)	0.527
Relationship	0.6 (0.2–1.4)	0.193
Students worried in the previous 2 weeks about
Tuition	1.1 (0.4–3.2)	0.792
Personal financial problems	0.8 (0.4–1.5)	0.488
Relationships	1.7 (0.9–3.3)	0.122
Lectures	2.2 (1.1–4.4)	0.028
Ward rounds	1.3 (0.5–3.5)	0.560
Lacking free time	0.6 (0.3–1.3)	0.212
Long distances to school	0.7 (0.3–1.5)	0.316
Traumatic patient events at hospital	1.4 (0.5–3.8)	0.517
Academic performance	2.5 (1.3–5.0)	0.009
Chronic illness	1.1 (0.2–4.7)	0.940
Major life event	0.6 (0.2–1.9)	0.369