INTRODUCTION: According to several epidemiological studies 10% to 20% of patients with medical diseases have depressive symptoms. However, only one third of these patients receive a diagnosis and 10% to 30% are adequately treated. The objective of this study was to estimate the prevalence of depression in inpatients at the University Hospital of Bahia. METHOD: Adult inpatients admitted to the University Hospital of Bahia were randomly assigned in the different wards during the first semester of 2001, in order to answer the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). The sample was divided into patients with medical, surgical and neoplastic diseases. RESULTS: Among the 196 patients, with mean age of 46.3±14.9 years, from both genders, significantly higher BDI scores (p=0.03) were observed in patients with medical diseases compared with surgical patients and those with neoplastic diseases (16.4±11.7 vs. 12.2±6.5 and 11.8±8.0, respectively). After establishing cutoff scores for the BDI, the prevalence of depression was 51.5% (57.7 clinical vs. 42.9 surgical and 34.2 neoplastic) for scores <FONT FACE=Symbol>³</FONT>14 and 24.5% (29.2 clinical vs. 9.5 surgical and 15.8 neoplastic) for scores <FONT FACE=Symbol>³</FONT>21, being also more prevalent in clinical inpatients (p=0.03 and p=0.06). CONCLUSION: The high prevalence of depression in this study shows that more attention should be given to depressive symptoms observed in inpatients in general hospitals.
Depression; Depressive symptons; Inpatiants; Prevalence; Questionnaires
