RESUMO
Objective: to compare the frequency of depressive symptoms in both genders among the depressive patients at a psychiatric clinic of tertiary care hospital
Study design: cross sectional study
Setting: department of Psychiatry, Jinnah Post Graduate Medical Center, Karachi
Duration: six months [Nov-2006 to May 2007]
Subjects and methods: a sample of 100 new consecutive patients including both the genders coming to the researcher's consulting room was assessed for caseness of depression. Diagnosis was made by using ICD-10 Diagnostic Criteria for Research. Diagnosed patients were then seen for the severity of illness by rating them on Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression [HRSD]andand
Results: analysis indicated that among the psychological symptoms, feeling sad was the most common seen in 34% of the patients. In males, compared to females, hopelessness and lack of confidence was predominant [11.8% vs 1.5%], while high proportions of females, compared to male patients, complaint of irritability [27.3% vs 8.8%] and feeling like crying all the time [34.8% vs 14.7%]. Among the somatic complaints headache was the most common reported by 39% of patients, which was significantly higher in females than males [47.0 vs 23.5%]
Conclusion: men and women in this study reported similar patterns and severity symptoms of depression. No evidence that presentation of depressive symptoms differs by gender was found. Understanding of phenomenology is a major tool to aid in early detection and diagnosis of depression