Depressive symptoms in hospitalized patients: a cross-sectional survey

To evaluate the level of depressive symptoms among medical inpatients, and to examine the associations with sociodemographic, medical, and psychosocial characteristics.

A point prevalence study (1 day) of all adult medical patients hospitalized at Hadassah University Hospital. Patients who were too incapacitated to be interviewed were excluded. The questionnaire included sociodemographic data, social supports (MOS Social Support Scale), Multidimensional Health Locus of Control (MHLC), and depressive symptoms (CES-D scale). Medical data were collected from the patients' charts. Of the 331 eligible patients, 256 (77%) were interviewed.

The level of depressive symptoms was high (mean = 21, s.d. = 12). About 60 percent of the patients had scores above 16, which is the suggested cut-off point for psychopathology. A multifactorial analysis of covariance showed that higher scores of depression were significantly (p < 0.01) associated with being a female, with lower scores of internal and higher scores of external health locus of control and only marginally (p = .08) with medical diagnosis (multiple R2 = .33, multiple R = .58). Depressive symptoms were not associated with age, education, marital status, social supports, type of admission, ward, or length of stay prior to evaluation.

The high levels of depressive symptoms found across medical and most of the personal and social characteristics in this first survey of its kind in Israel may reflect a reaction to the event of hospitalization; sex and locus of control may be suggested as risk markers of elevated depression to be used for screen and prompt psychiatric consultation in this population.