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. 2020 Aug 14:29:e158.
doi: 10.1017/S2045796020000670.

Undiagnosed depression, persistent depressive symptoms and seeking mental health care: analysis of immigrant and non-immigrant participants of the Canadian Longitudinal Study of Aging

D Farid  1   2 , P Li  2   3 , D Da Costa  2   4 , W Afif  5 , J Szabo  1   6 , K Dasgupta  2   7 , E Rahme  2   4
Affiliations

Undiagnosed depression, persistent depressive symptoms and seeking mental health care: analysis of immigrant and non-immigrant participants of the Canadian Longitudinal Study of Aging

D Farid et al. Epidemiol Psychiatr Sci. .

Abstract

Aims: Early diagnosis and treatment of depression are associated with better prognosis. We used baseline data of the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (2012-2015; ages 45-85 years) to examine differences in prevalence and predictors of undiagnosed depression (UD) between immigrants and non-immigrants at baseline and persistent and/or emerging depressive symptoms (DS) 18 months later. At this second time point, we also examined if a mental health care professional (MHCP) had been consulted.

Methods: We excluded individuals with any prior mood disorder and/or current anti-depressive medication use at baseline. UD was defined as the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression 10 score ⩾10. DS at 18 months were defined as Kessler 10 score ⩾19. The associations of interest were examined in multivariate logistic regression models.

Results: Our study included 4382 immigrants and 18 620 non-immigrants. The mean age (standard deviation) in immigrants was 63 (10.3) years v. 65 (10.7) years in non-immigrants and 52.1% v. 57.1% were male. Among immigrants, 12.2% had UD at baseline of whom 34.2% had persistent DS 18 months later v. 10.6% and 31.4%, respectively, among non-immigrants. Female immigrants were more likely to have UD than female non-immigrants (odds ratio 1.50, 95% confidence interval 1.25-1.80) but no difference observed for men. The risk of persistent DS and consulting an MHCP at 18 months did not differ between immigrants and non-immigrants.

Conclusions: Female immigrants may particularly benefit from depression screening. Seeking mental health care in the context of DS should be encouraged.

Keywords: CLSA; cohort; depression; immigrant; mental health; national representative sample.

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Conflict of interest statement

Authors have no competing interests to declare.

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