ABSTRACT 

Objectives: There is a paucity of studies on psychosocial disorders in clinic populations in Jamaica. Therefore, we sought to determine the prevalence and correlates of symptoms of depression and anxiety in a clinic population in western Jamaica.

Methods: A total of 338 participants from four outpatient clinics of the Western Regional Health Authority (WRHA) were screened for symptoms of depression and anxiety using questions from the Beck Depression Inventory-II and the Beck Anxiety Inventory. The Chi-square test was used to examine differences in symptoms of anxiety and depression by gender. Multivariate linear and logistic regression were used to examine the associations between symptoms and sociodemographic variables with significance set at p < 0.05.

Results: Approximately 30% of participants had moderate or severe depression symptoms while 18.6% had moderate or severe anxiety symptoms. Participants aged 30–39 years were more likely than older participants to have moderate or severe anxiety symptoms (odds ratio [OR]: 2.0, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.39, 5.56). Women reported a statistically significant higher prevalence of anxiety symptoms (10.0% vs 7.1%, p = 0.003). There was also a statistically significant difference between anxiety means by gender. Furthermore, income was found to be a significant predictor of anxiety for women only (p = 0.0113). Married persons were more likely than those who had never married to have moderate or severe anxiety symptoms (OR: 2.57, 95% CI: 1.14, 5.76).

Conclusions: Our findings suggest that the prevalence of depression may be higher than global estimates in similar outpatient settings. Screening and intervention efforts may need to focus on younger persons, women, and married persons.