Socio-Demographic Correlates in Patients with First Episode Depression in a Tertiary Hospital

Introduction: Depression is the most chronic mental illness that afflicts mankind. It is widely believed to be the disease affecting mainly female gender, economically disadvantaged group with low level of education and those residing in the urban setup. There are only few studies looking into the socio-demographic correlates of depression in the context of Nepal. Methods: We looked at 70 patients with new-onset depression who met the criteria for diagnosis of depression as per ICD-10 DCR. A self-designed semi-structured proforma was developed to obtain the socio-demographic variables and was filled in the OPD and the data were analyzed. Results: Mean age of the patients was 30.30 +/- 9.75 years and 70% of the patients were females. There were almost equal number of patients residing in and out of Kathmandu valley. Most of the patients had attained secondary level of education and were married, housewives and belonged to nuclear family. Majority were Hindus, Brahmins, and from middle class family. Conclusions: We found that patients with first episode depression were relatively young with female predominance most attaining at least secondary level of education; and most belonging to middle class nuclear families.