Does past depression predict present depression among HIV test-seekers?

ABSTRACT

Previous research has indicated that major depression is a chronic illness with people experiencing several depressive episodes over the course of their lifetime. To this extent people who currently report major depression are more likely to enter and exit future depressive episodes than those who do not. We studied 500 South Africans seeking an HIV test to determine whether past depressive disorders predicted present depression. Among our sample, 14.40% met the diagnostic criteria for current major depression and 10.42% reported past major depression. Using chi-square analysis we found that study participants with current major depression were 9.25 times more likely to have had past major depression than those without past major depression. These results have important implications for HIV care. Persons who test positive for HIV and who have major depression are less likely to accept and adhere to antiretroviral therapy. Thus identifying positive cases of depression and thus the risk of future depressive episodes among this population will enhance the likelihood of referral for mental health treatment which in turn is likely to yield improved HIV treatment outcomes.

KEYWORDS:

• HIV testing
• mental health
• major depressive disorder
• past major depression
• recurrence

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Stephanie can Niekerk and Sue van der Merwe for assisting with data collection for this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by a research grant from the South African Medical Research Council awarded to Dr. Kagee.