Prevalence and Associated Factors of Depression in Nepal: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Abstract

Introduction: Depression is a common mental disorder associated with considerable degree of burden. This review aimed to examine the prevalence of depression and associated factors in the Nepalese general population.
Methods: The databases Medline (PubMed), Embase, Scopus, Web of Science and NepJOL were searched for identification of peer-reviewed studies reporting the prevalence of depression among non-clinical populations in Nepal along with Google Scholar and citation search. Meta-analysis was conducted using random-effects model to calculate the pooled prevalence estimates. A qualitative synthesis of factors associated with depression was performed.
Results: A total of 64 studies comprising a total of 57,553 participants were included. Overall, the pooled prevalence among adult population was 13.75% (95% CI:10.84% to 16.65%). For other population subgroups: 27.49% (95% CI: 17.99% to 32.21%) in children and adolescents, 50.07% (95% CI: 32.82% to 67.33%) in geriatric population, 19.96% (95% CI: 18.00% to 21.91%) in maternal population. There was high degree of heterogeneity (I2 = 99.32). Depression was associated with distinct individual attributes and behaviors, socio-economic circumstances and environmental factors.
Conclusions: Approximately one-seventh of the adult population was found to have depression. There were notable variations in the prevalence and associated factors of depression across different population subgroups.