Depressive symptoms in users of public internet cabins from a district of Lima, Peru

We carry out a cross sectional study pretends to determine the prevalence of depressive symptoms and their relation with the quantity of Internet use in hours in Public Internet Cabins (PIC). A total of 96 users of PIC completed a survey that included data of quantity, frequency and type of use of Internet and the self-administered Zung Depression Scale (ZDS). The prevalence of depressive symptoms (DS) was 8.33% (CI 3.92 - 16.23). No statistical relationship was found between the number of hours-usage per week and the score in the ZDS (p=0.05). Those that reported that their main usage was watching pornography had 13.47 higher points in the ZDS compared to the other uses being this statistical relationship significative (p = 0.03). No evidence was found that suggested that the prevalence of DS in PIC were higher that the general population.