Objective: This study aims to determine the prevalence of depressive
symptoms in the adult population in Türkiye and to examine the
relationship of depression with socio-demographic and behavioral
variables and chronic diseases.
Method: This sturdy utilized data from the 2019 Turkey Health
Survey. The Patient Health Questionnaire Depression Module (PHQ-
8) was employed to assess depressive symptoms in the survey. Based
on the analysis using the diagnostic algorithm of the PHQ-8, from a
total of 17084 people aged 15+ years old who were, we selected 6.4%
individuals with depressive symptoms. Then, we randomly selected
1101 individuals without depressive symptoms, comprising of a total of
2202 individuals as the study sample. We assessed the factors associated
with depressive symptoms using multivariate logistic regression analyses.
Results: The risk of developing depressive symptoms increased with age.
Women were more likely to report depressive symptoms. Education,
physical activity, and marital status were negatively correlated with
reporting depressive symptoms. Further, social support was a protective
factor to report depressive symptoms. The presence of chronic diseases
was positively associated with depressive symptoms.
Conclusion: The results showed that point and annual prevalence of
depressive symptoms were high. The findings provide a basis for further
studies to explore the factors associated with a higher prevalence of
depressive symptoms in Türkiye. Our findings could serve as a reference
to monitor depression in the country, as well as help in the planning of
health resource and identify high risk segments of the population.
Keywords: Depression, Socioeconomic and Demographic Factors,
Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ), Oslo-3 Social Support Scale
(OSSS-3), Diabetes, Hypertension, Coronary heart Disease, Low Back
Pain