MDC02
Study about Depression and Gender in People with Multiple
Methods: A quantitative study was performed with 52 people diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (41 relapsing-remitting, 4 primary-progressive and 7 secondary-progressive), aged between 23 and 59 years (Mean = 43.75, SD = 10.51 years), 18 men (34.6%) and 34 women (65.4%), with EDSS score from 0 to 7.5 (Mean = 3.56, SD = 2.19), time of diagnostic between 0.7 and 26 years (Mean = 9.96, SD = 6.39 years). For evaluation, an interview was conducted to collect data and applied the BDI (Beck Depressions Inventory). It was used the chi-squared test for statistical hypothesis test.
Results: It was observed that 28.8% of the patients presented depression, being 17.3% mild, 9.6% moderate and 1.9% severe. Among people with depression, 60.0% had a mild outcome, 33.3% moderate and 6.7 severe. The men were aged between 25 and 57 years (Mean = 39.94, SD = 8.97 years), with EDSS score from 0 to 6.5 (Mean = 3.14, SD = 2.15), time of diagnostic between 0.7 and 18 years (Mean = 7.65, SD = 4.71 years). The women were aged between 23 and 59 years (Mean = 45.76, SD = 10.83 years), with EDSS score from 0 to 7.5 (Mean = 3.78, SD = 2.22), time of diagnostic between 1 and 26 years (Mean = 11.18, SD = 6.88 years). With regard to men, 27.8% had depression, being 16.7% mild, 5.6% moderate and 5.6% severe. With regard to women, 29.4% had depression, being 17.6% mild and 11.8% moderate). There was no significant difference between the results of men and women (p=0.901).
Conclusions: The results of this study show that the prevalence of depression in people with multiple sclerosis is higher compared to the general population. It was observed that, among patients with depression, the majority had a mild level. It is suggested that there is no significant difference in depression between genders.