Depression in sickle cell disease.

Purpose: To assess the prevalence of depressive symptoms and examine the contribution of demographics, disease severity, and health care use variables to depressive symptoms in sickle cell patients who had been in stable health for at least one month.

Patients And Methods: Subjects were a convenience sample of 27 men and 23 women selected during a routine visit to the sickle cell clinic at Howard University Hospital. Depression was assessed using a cut-off score from the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and related to a variety of health outcomes.