The Stress Perception, Depressive Symptoms and Medical Comorbidity in Healthcare Center

Shim, In Bo; Joe, Sook Haeng; Ham, Byung Joo; Han, Changsu; Jeong, Hyun Ghang; Ko, Young Hoon

Abstract

OBJECTIVES
We surveyed this study for knowing the relation within stress, depression and medical comorbidities, and finding the risk factors of major depression.
METHODS
1764 subjects were enrolled from Jan. 2009 to Dec. 2009 who visit Korea University Guro hospital healthcare center. The subjects answered the questionnaire of PSS(Perceived Stress Scale), PHQ-9(Patient Health Questionnaire-9) and the demographic data. We categorized them as the stress group, depressive group, medical comorbidity group and analyzed the correlation analyses and logistic regression analyses.
RESULTS
198 of 1764 subjects(11.8%) were applied to major depression, and the depressive group showed the higher mean stress score(23.19) and mean depression score(12.95) than the normal group. The total PHQ-9 score was increased by perceiving more stress, having more medical comorbidities. The subjects with female, visiting due to recent health problems, irregular exercise, current smoking, history of angina and cerebrovascular disease showed the increased risk of major depression.
CONCLUSIONS
In this study, we find the PSS, PHQ-9 were valuable for mental health screening in healthcare center. As perceiving more stress and having more medical comorbidity, risk of major depression were increased. Accordingly the individuals with medical diseases or unhealthy lifestyle would need the mental health screen.