Depressive symptoms among community-dwelling population with speech disability in Wuhan: prevalence and influencing factors

Objective To determine the prevalence and correlates of depressive symptoms in community-dwelling persons with speech disability in Wuhan. Methods Using multi-stage stratified random cluster sampling method, 170 verbally disabled persons were selected and administered with a self-designed socio-demographic questionnaire, revised eysenck personality questionnaire-short scale for Chinese (EPQ-RSC) and center for epidemiological studies depression scale. Results The prevalence rates for mild depression, moderate depression and severe depression among verbally disabled persons were 7.6%, 25.3% and 14.1%, respectively. Risk factors for depression were unemployment, low self-rated level of family income, first and second degree of disability, psychoticism score >5 and neuroticism score >6, their corresponding OR were 2.74 (95%CI: 1.01-7.49, P=0.040), 2.94 (95%CI: 1.03-8.42, P=0.044), 6.09 (95%CI: 1.22-30.51, P=0.005), 4.30 (95%CI: 1.66-11.11, P=0.003) and 9.48(95%CI: 3.71-24.26, P<0.01), respectively. Conclusion Verbally disabled persons in Wuhan are at high risk for depression. Unemployment, bad economic condition, high degree of disability, and personality traits of high psychoticism and high neuroticism could increase the risk of depression of verbally disabled people. Key words: Speech disability; Depressive symptom; Prevalence; Influencing factors