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Background The mixed understanding of albinism over the years and across civilizations globally has generated behaviours, attitudes and practices that have influenced the lives of people living with oculocutaneous albinism (PWA). If in some regions, they have been venerated, in the majority of regions, especially in Africa, the attitudes, behaviours and practices have negatively influenced the lives of people living with oculocutaneous albinism. Despite the fact that several attitudes, beliefs and behaviours capable to influence the quality of life of people with oculocutaneous albinism in the Busoga sub-region have been described, no information is available regarding the health related quality of life in the study area. The main objective of the present study was to determine the health related quality of life of people with oculocutaneous albinism in Jinja, Uganda. Methods A hospital based cross-sectional design was used to capture data from a study sample size of 384 adults living with oculocutaneous albinism in Jinja who were involved in completion of the Dermatology life quality index (DLQI) adult version. The results were determined by adding the scores of each question of DLQI together, yielding a maximum of 30 and a minimum of 0. The greater the score, the more worsening of one's quality of life was Results The analyses revealed that oculocutaneous albinism was found to have a very large effect on patient's life accounting for 48.7% of the participants. Only 5.7% of the participants reported that oculocutaneous albinism had no effect on their quality of life. The mean DLQI score was 14.55. Conclusions These findings show that oculocutaneous albinism affects negatively the quality of life of people with albinism in Jinja. Strategies targeting to solve different problems related to albinism must be taken to improve the quality of life of this vulnerable population in the study area.

Background Depression is among the common psychiatric disorders with high prevalence in the general population.This prevalence is higher in vulnerable populations including people living with albinism. Despite the fact that several aspects linked with it have been found among people with oculocutaneous albinism in the Busoga region, limited information is available regarding prevalence of depression and its associated factors in the study area.The main objective of the present study was to determine the factors associated with the prevalence of depression among people with oculocutaneous albinism in Jinja. Methods A cross-sectional design was used to capture data from a study sample size of 384 adults living with oculocutaneous albinism who were involved in completion of the screening tests for depression Hopkins Symptom Checklist-25(HSCL-25).The summation of scores for depression were averaged and the probable depression determined for each participant using a cut-off of 1.75. Logistic regression analyses were used to examine associations between depression outcomes, socio-demographic and psychomedical factors. Results The analyses revealed that the prevalence of depression among people with oculocutaneous albinism in Jinjacity stands at 65.4%. Depression was significantly associated with age (AOR = 1.059, 95% CI = 1.020–1.100, P = 0.003), lack of family support (AOR = 0.505, 95% CI = 0.286–0.892, P = 0.019), history of diabetes mellitus (AOR = 12.030, 95% CI = 1.117–12.961, P = 0.040), marital status by being married(AOR = 0.505, 95% CI = 0.286–0.892, P = 0.019) and taking chronically medication (AOR = 6.583, 95% CI = 1.618–26.782, P = 0.008). Conclusions These findings show that the estimated prevalence of depression among people with oculocutaneous albinism in the study area is high and worrying. Age, marital status, lack of family support, history of diabetes mellitus, and taking chronically medication are important risk factors associated with the prevalence of depressive disorders. Strategies targeting early interventions are needed in order to reduce risk factors of the disease and improve the quality of life of people with oculocutaneous albinism in Jinja.