Pesquisa y diagnóstico de trastorno depresivo en una comunidad rural de Venezuela.

The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered a global increase in the incidence of psychological consultations related to anxiety and depressive dis-order, which, together with the humanitarian crisis in Venezuela, produced a surge in reported cases of these pathologies nationwide. Currently, there are no works available that document the prevalence of depressive disorder in ru-ral communities in Venezuela. This work aimed to determine the prevalence of depressive disorder in La Marroquina, a rural community in Yaracuy State, Venezuela, through a cross-sectional study conducted in July 2022, with an esti-mated population of 611 patients and a sample of 160. The study included two phases: a brief interview, where the Patient Health Questionnaire 9 (PHQ-9) was conducted and in a second phase, an interview with a Psychiatry specialist who used the Hamilton Depression Scale (HAM-D) for the diagnosis of depression. In the psychiatric triage for depression, 67 patients obtained PHQ-9 scores >10 points, of which only 39 attended a consultation. When performing the psychi-atric evaluation of these patients, the depressive disorder was diagnosed in 30 patients, with a prevalence in the community of La Marroquina of 18.75%. A statistically significant association was found between the risk of depression ac-cording to the PHQ-9 and unemployment. The fact that the scales do not allow differentiating between different types of depressive disorder, as well as the so-cial stigma of attending a psychiatric consultation, may cause underreporting in our study. La Marroquina has a high prevalence of depressive disorder, which is related to unemployment as the most important risk factor.