Background: Depression is a debilitating mental health condition which affects an estimated 350 million people\nworldwide annually. Nurses are twice as likely to suffer from depression than professionals in other professions. This\nleads to a considerable loss of efficiency and productivity. We sought to determine the prevalence and predictors\nof depression among nurses in Cameroon.\nMethods: Cross-sectional analysis carried out over 6 months (January â?? June 2018) using nurses from public and\nprivate healthcare institutions sampled consecutively in the two English-speaking regions (North west and South\nwest regions) of Cameroon. The nurses were handed a structured, printed, self-administered questionnaire to fill\nand hand in at their earliest convenience. Depression and burnout were assessed using the Patient Health\nQuestionnaire â?? 9 and the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory respectively.\nResults: A total of 143 nurses were recruited (mean age: 29.75 ± 6.55 years; age range: 20â??55 years, 32.87% male).\nThe overall prevalence of depression was 62.24%. Independent predictors of depression after multivariable analysis\nwere: Number of night shifts a week (adjusted odds ratio: 1.58; p value: 0.045, 95% CI; 1.01, 2.48) and Total\nOldenburg Burnout Inventory score (adjusted odds ratio: 1.21, p value: 0.001; 95% CI; 1.08, 1.35). Recreational drug\nuse was also found to perfectly predict the outcome â?? depression.\nConclusion: Depression is highly prevalent among nurses in the English-speaking regions of Cameroon. Accurate\npredictors could prove vital for early detection and management of affected individuals. Predictors presented\nherein require further investigation via multicentric nationwide studies, to obtain more generalizable results.
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