Prevalence and Severity of Depression among Undergraduate Students in Karachi, Pakistan: A Cross Sectional Study

Purpose: To highlight the prevalence and severity of depression among undergraduate students in public and private universities in Karachi, Pakistan.
Methods: In this cross-sectional study a total of 408 undergraduate students from both public and private universities in Karachi, Pakistan completed Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS) questionnaire to appraise the presence and extent of depression among the participants. Their sociodemographic characteristics such as age, gender and course of study as well as drug use data were also collected and analyzed.
Results: Depression prevalence was 53.43 % (38.07 % for males and 61.00 % for females). A significant disparity in the prevalence of depression across ethnicity was observed. Less than 50 % (n = 163) of the students were satisfied with their duration of degree course work while 111 (27.20 %) participants were not sure about this. The intensity of depression increased with declining satisfaction level (Gamma = 0.264, p = 0.001) which affected the performance and results of students during their studies. A majority of the participants (89 %, n = 358) of our study have never used medicines to alter their mood.
Conclusion: The findings of this study highlight the importance of understanding the unique strains and mental health effect of university education on undergraduate students, especially female students.

Keywords
Depression; Undergraduate students; Mood alternation; Zung self-rating depression scale (SDS); Mental Health; Risk assessment