Prevalence of Depression Among the Adult Population in Southwestern Saudi Arabia: A Cross-Sectional, Community-Based Study

Background Depression is one of the most common mental disorders, which is increasing globally with higher prevalence among women. Many factors contribute to the etiology and risk factors for depression, including biological and psychosocial factors. This study aimed to assess the prevalence of depression among the adult population in Al-Qunfudah governorate, southwestern Saudi Arabia (SA). Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted on a sample of 1036 participants among adults in Al-Qunfudah governorate, southwestern SA, using a validated Arabic version of the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ9) during the period from October 1st, 2022 to the end of December 2022. The PHQ-9 contains nine items, with a total score ranging from 0 to 27. A score of 1-4 represented minimal depression, while a score of 5, 10, 15, and 20 represented mild, moderate, moderately severe, and severe depression, respectively. The sample size was estimated to be 375 participants, by considering a margin of error of 5%, and a 95% confidence interval, calculated using Raosoft calculator (Raosoft Inc., Seattle, WA). Data collection was performed through an online survey of the PHQ-9 on a Google form and distributed using different social media platforms. The eligible participants' responses were kept confidential and analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 22 (Released 2013; IBM Corp., Armonk, New York, United States). p-values of <0.05 were considered statistically significant. Results The study showed that the overall prevalence of depression among the 1036 adult study participants was 68.1%. Mild, moderate, moderate to severe, and severe depression was diagnosed among 28.2%, 21.9%, 12%, and 6% of the participants, respectively. Several factors were significantly associated with PHQ-9 diagnosed depression including being younger (p<0.0001), a female (p<0.0001), single (p<0.0001), a student (p<0.0001), and non-employed (p<0.0001) and having a lower educational level (p<0.0001). Conclusions There is a high prevalence rate of depression among the adult population of Al-Qunfudah governorate in southwestern SA, which highlights the need for interventions to address this issue, and to reduce the incidence of depression in the region among the high -risk groups.