Self-reported depression and its associated factors among male inpatients admitted for substance use disorders in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Background: The association between depression and substance abuse is well established. However, uncertainties exist about the prevalence and comorbidity of substance use disorders and depression in Saudi Arabia.

Methods: Data were collected from December 2012 to March 2013 from 165 male inpatients admitted for substance use disorders to a public health hospital in Jeddah. Participants completed a self-administered questionnaire. Depression was assessed using the Arabic version of the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI).

Results: High BDI scores were reported by 95.2% of participants with more than two-thirds scoring severe (37%) or very severe (33.9%). Multivariate logistic regression indicated that those who had abused substances for more than 10 years were double the risk for depression compared to participants who had abused substances for less than 5 years (AOR = 2.16; 95% CI: 1.09–9.11). Those abusing substances for a duration of 5–10 years were likely to have a threefold risk for depression relative to participants who had a substance abuse history of less than 5 years (AOR = 3.08; 95% CI: 1.23–43.6).

Conclusion: There is high prevalence of depression among substance users in Saudi Arabia. Prevalence and comorbidity is significantly associated with duration of substance abuse. Such findings have implications for treatment and service development as patients with these co-morbidities will require complex management.

• Comorbidity
• depression
• prevalence
• Saudi Arabia
• substance abuse

Acknowledgements

We thank the Ministry of Health, Saudi Arabia and staff at the Jeddah hospital site for facilitating access to study participants and assistance with recruitment and data collection. We also thank Dr Motaz Abdel-Fattah for statistical assistance. Finally, we express our gratitude to the study participants for their time and contribution.

Declaration of interest

All authors conceptualized and designed the study. H. A. collected and analyzed the data and wrote the first draft. B. B. and P. B. then made substantive and significant revisions. All authors approved the final manuscript and the authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this article.

H. A. was funded to undertake this research by the Arab Board of Medicine. B. B. is financially supported by a fellowship from the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council. None of the authors declare any conflict of interest.