Burnout as a predictor of depression: a cross-sectional study of the sociodemographic and clinical predictors of depression amongst nurses in Cameroon

Background: Depression is a debilitating mental health condition which affects an estimated 350 million people

worldwide annually. Nurses are twice as likely to suffer from depression than professionals in other professions. This

leads to a considerable loss of efficiency and productivity. We sought to determine the prevalence and predictors

of depression among nurses in Cameroon.

Methods: Cross-sectional analysis carried out over 6 months (January – June 2018) using nurses from public and

private healthcare institutions sampled consecutively in the two English-speaking regions (North west and South

west regions) of Cameroon. The nurses were handed a structured, printed, self-administered questionnaire to fill

and hand in at their earliest convenience. Depression and burnout were assessed using the Patient Health

Questionnaire – 9 and the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory respectively.

Results: A total of 143 nurses were recruited (mean age: 29.75 ± 6.55 years; age range: 20–55 years, 32.87% male).

The overall prevalence of depression was 62.24%. Independent predictors of depression after multivariable analysis

were: Number of night shifts a week (adjusted odds ratio: 1.58; p value: 0.045, 95% CI; 1.01, 2.48) and Total

Oldenburg Burnout Inventory score (adjusted odds ratio: 1.21, p value: 0.001; 95% CI; 1.08, 1.35). Recreational drug

use was also found to perfectly predict the outcome – depression.

Conclusion: Depression is highly prevalent among nurses in the English-speaking regions of Cameroon. Accurate

predictors could prove vital for early detection and management of affected individuals. Predictors presented

herein require further investigation via multicentric nationwide studies, to obtain more generalizable results.

Keywords: Burnout syndrome, Nurses, Depression, Cameroon, Oldenburg burnout inventory, Patient health

Questionnaire-9