A prospective study of comorbidity of alcohol and depression

The aim of the work was to study the socio-demographic variables and their co-morbidity to alcohol consumption and presence of depressive symptomatology.

This was a prospective cross-sectional study.

The study was carried out in 53 patients, who were admitted in the wards of Kathmandu Medical College Teaching Hospital (KMCTH) with the diagnosis of mental and behavioural disorder due to the use of alcohol according to ICD-10. The patients were taken from 1st February 2006 to 30th December 2006. All patients were rated using Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS). Comparison of alcohol intake, depressive symptomatology and their associations with various socio-demographic variables were done using standard statistical procedures.

The present study has shown that more than 94.3% of the patients were suffering from depressive episode. Among all the patients, 11.3% were suffering from severe depressive episode. Alcohol intake was more significantly correlated (p = .002) with Brahmin and Chhetri caste. The other significant correlation of alcohol intake and sociodemographic variable was Nuclear family (p=.001). Among these patients the severity of depression was significantly (p= .001)associated with duration of alcohol intake. Marital status was another important factor affecting comorbidity of alcohol intake and presence of depressive symptoms (p =.002). Students of 10th to 12th grades of school were found to be using alcohol more often (45.3%). Middle socio-economic status (60.4%) was using alcohol more frequently than other socioeconomical classes.

Severity of depression and alcohol intake was found to be significantly associated with various socio-demographic variables such as caste, family structure, marital status and educational status.