Depressive Symptoms

Higher scores on all three self-management scales were significantly associated with fewer depressive symptoms after adjustment for background characteristics. A recent TB diagnosis was associated with a strong psychological burden at diagnosis and persistent elevated risk of severe depressive symptoms four years later. Depressive symptoms were more prevalent among Syrian refugees or migrants than among Lebanese adults. At baseline, recently diagnosed participants had substantially higher depression burden than both comparison groups. At four-year follow-up, depressive symptom scores for the recently diagnosed group attenuated but remained elevated, with severe symptoms still statistically significant. Previously diagnosed individuals had elevated standardized depression scores at baseline in both unadjusted and adjusted models. The median depressive symptom score was 3.0 on a 0–21 scale, and severe depressive symptoms were present in only 6% of participants. The study cautions that retained predictors of depressive symptoms should not be interpreted as causal. More than half of the sample had depressive symptoms. Depressive symptom levels were lower than might be expected and wer…