The Occurrence of Depression Among Adults With Sickle Cell Disease in Saudi Arabia

Introduction Sickle cell disease (SCD) is recognized as a widely prevalent genetic disorder that impacts individuals globally and is inherited within families. The primary cause of SCD is a singular genetic mutation that affects the globin chain of the hemoglobin protein. Depression and its symptoms are frequently observed in individuals with SCD. This observation has led to a higher probability of adverse health outcomes. Therefore, the primary objective of this study was to analyze depression among Saudi Arabian adults with sickle cell disease. Method The online survey questionnaire was administered in both Arabic and English to collect essential information regarding SCD distress among the urban adult population in Saudi Arabia, using a cross-sectional study design. Data analysis was conducted using IBM SPSS software version 25 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA) and Microsoft Excel (Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA, USA). The study was designed with a statistical power of 80% at a cut-off value of 0.05 and 0.2. Diverse statistical approaches have been utilized to examine the connection between independent variables, including methods such as Chi-square analysis and Pearson's statistical assessment. Result A total of 685 respondents were included in the survey for this study, with the majority of the participants from the eastern region (31%) and between the age groups of 25 and 30 years (34%) showing a lot of enthusiasm There was a clear dominance of the Saudi population (71%) who spoke Arabic (83%). Female (65%) participants showed more interest in this survey. The collected data were organized comprehensively in tables to facilitate a better understanding of the study's findings. P-values less than 0.05 were considered significant for the obtained results. Conclusion The study has shown that there were a variety of depression entanglements as a result of SCD, but they were handled well with the necessary measures by medical care professionals with much-needed psychological counseling and well-equipped medical facilities.