Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Comparative Study
. 2003 Nov;93(11):1945-52.
doi: 10.2105/ajph.93.11.1945.

Racial/ethnic differences in rates of depression among preretirement adults

Dorothy D Dunlop  1 , Jing Song, John S Lyons, Larry M Manheim, Rowland W Chang
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Racial/ethnic differences in rates of depression among preretirement adults

Dorothy D Dunlop et al. Am J Public Health. 2003 Nov.

Abstract

Objectives: We estimated racial/ethnic differences in rates of major depression and investigated possible mediators.

Methods: Depression prevalence rates among African American, Hispanic, and White adults were estimated from a population-based national sample and adjusted for potential confounders.

Results: African Americans (odds ratio [OR] = 1.16, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.93, 1.44) and Hispanics (OR = 1.44, 95% CI = 1.02, 2.04) exhibited elevated rates of major depression relative to Whites. After control for confounders, Hispanics and Whites exhibited similar rates, and African Americans exhibited significantly lower rates than Whites.

Conclusions: Major depression and factors associated with depression were more frequent among members of minority groups than among Whites. Elevated depression rates among minority individuals are largely associated with greater health burdens and lack of health insurance, factors amenable to public policy intervention.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Self-reported frequent mental distress among adults—United States, 1993–1996. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 1998;47:326–331. - PubMed
    1. Penninx BW, Leveille S, Ferrucci L, van Eijk JT, Guralnik JM. Exploring the effect of depression on physical disability: longitudinal evidence from the established populations for epidemiologic studies of the elderly. Am J Public Health. 1999;89:1346–1352. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Blazer DG. Psychiatry and the oldest old. Am J Psychiatry. 2000;157:1915–1924. - PubMed
    1. Turvey CL, Conwell Y, Jones MP, et al. Risk factors for late-life suicide: a prospective, community-based study. Am J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2002;10:398–406. - PubMed
    1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Prevalence of disabilities and associated health conditions among adults—United States, 1999. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2001;50:120–125. - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources