Abstract

Background: The comorbidity between major depressive disorder (MDD) and sickle cell disease (SCD) has been documented in numerous literature sources. There have been reports of an increase in both urgent and non-urgent healthcare utilisation among individuals with both conditions compared to those with either of the conditions alone.
Aim: This study aimed to determine the relationship between major depressive disorder and healthcare utilisation among patients with sickle cell disease.
Methods: The study was conducted at the Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital (UDUTH) in Sokoto and involved SCD patients. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to gather data on sociodemographic, clinical, and healthcare utilisation variables. The Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) was used to screen for MDD, while the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview-7 (MINI) was employed to diagnose MDD.
Results: SCD patients with comorbid MDD reported significantly more visits to primary care physicians (P = 0.041), underwent more laboratory tests (P = 0.007), received fewer prescribed medications (P = 0.004), and had more visits to other hospitals (P = 0.005). However, no significant association was found with hospitalisation (P = 0.476), daycare visits (P = 0.102), or emergency department visits (P = 0.315).
Conclusion: This study showed that comorbid SCD and MDD are associated with increased non-urgent healthcare utilisation, such as outpatient visits, but did not find an increase in urgent healthcare utilisation, including acute hospitalisations and emergency admissions.

Key words: Association, Cross-sectional, Health Care Utilization, Major depressive disorder, Sickle cell disease