Abstract:

Background: Major depression disorder is a mental disorder characterized by at least two weeks of low mood that is persistent across most situation. It is often accompanied by loss of interest, low energy, guilt of no clear cause and sometimes suicidal and homicidal ideation. Despite having a big genetic predisposition, depression have been explained biologically to be caused by disturbance in neurotransmitter in the brain. The most dominants neurotransmitter being serotonin. Almost 20% of people live with depression worldwide 22% in Africa and 4-8% in adolescents. The prevalence is higher in medical students and different studies have estimated it between 20% and 50%. Depression is the commonest cause of morbidity but prevalence levels among Tanzanian secondary students are poorly understood. A better understanding of depression and its correlates is essential in planning for interventions in this populations group.

Methodology: This was cross sectional study conducted on September 2019. A total of 384 secondary students, 45% (n=173) male and 55% (n=211) females were recruited randomly from four secondary schools in Njombe. Depressive symptoms were measured by using nine questions patient health questionnaire 9 (PHQ-9).

Results: The prevalence of depression was 45.1%, were 211(54.9%) students had no depression. However, 121 (31.5%), 50 (13%) 2(0.5%) had mild, moderate and severe depression respectively. Age and form of level of study shows significantly associated with depression with P value (0.04 and 0.002), odd ratio (1.365) (1.412), confidence intervals (CI) 0.955-1.957) (1.155-1.727) respectively.

Conclusion: Depression occur in a significant number of students. Appropriate intervention should be set up in secondary school to detect and treat these disorders paying particular attention to those at risk.