Prevalence of Depression and Its Affecting Factors in Patients Referred to Substance Abuse Treatment Centers in Guilan Province, Iran, During Year 2013

Substance use disorder is a multidimensional phenomenon, which is becoming increasingly prevalent and important. It is the result of psychological, biological, social, and familial factors, and it seems that psychological factors play a very important role in its process. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of depression among patients visiting substance abuse treatment centers and to evaluate influential factors. A descriptive analytic research was conducted on 241 patients, who were selected randomly from visitors of the maintenance methadone therapy centers in Guilan province, Iran (January to May 2013). Based on population, Guilan was divided to three regions, east, west, and center. In each region, three or four substance abuse treatment centers were chosen randomly. To collect the data, two questionnaires were used, including demographic characteristics and abused substance characteristics, and Beck’s depression inventory. The data were analyzed using the SPSS software. According to this study, the mean age of visitors was 38.29 years old. Prevalence of depression among patients was 48.96%. There was a significant negative relationship between the degree of depression and age (Pearson coefficient -0.17, P value 0.01). Logistic regression indicated that the factors affecting depression included type of abused drugs, income, duration of treatment, and place of residence. There was no significant relationship between depression and education level, physical diseases, and duration of drug use. Concerning the abovementioned points, it seems that depression is one of the common problems of substance use disorder. Considering the mental problems of substance abusers, appropriate therapies have an essential role in their treatment.