(Newswire.net — August 15, 2021) —
Depression is a very common mental disorder, especially in western countries. It is also related to an increase in morbidity and mortality from different medical conditions. Overall, it leads to a decrease in the quality of life that the depressed individual lives.
Some of the most critical factors used to explain the variability in the rate of depression prevalence are sociodemographic factors such as age, education, gender, immigrant status, marital status, and income levels.
Depression not only affects the individual but also affects society as a whole. For instance, in Canada, depression takes up $14.4 billion in health care spending every year, leads to loss of productivity, and ultimately premature death. These are some of the negative consequences that depression has on society, not to mention the morbidity and mortality increase for individuals.
So, by seeing how much significant impact that depression has on people and society, it has become essential that discussions are held around this issue and how to mitigate it in society today. To do this, we need to find out the link between different sociodemographic factors (which are regarded as some of the common prevalent factors for depression and depression).
Depression and age
While lifetime depressions have different prevalence rates across different age groups, the highest rate (14.3%) is found in the 20-24 age group. On the other hand, the age group from 75 years and above have the lowest rate, which is 4.3%. Similarly, the highest (9.6%) and lowest rates (1.7%) for 12-month depression are in these same age groups. Both types of depression show similar patterns. According to best assignment writers uk, they start to rise with age till they peak at the 20-24 age group, then they start to steadily decrease till they get to the lowest point with the 75+ age group.
Gender prevalence
Women are known to generally suffer more depression than men, especially when talking about lifetime depression and 12 months of depression. The age group, 20-24, recorded the highest prevalence rates for both types of depressions in both genders. While the age group of 75+ had the lowest prevalence rate for both types of depression in males and females as an essay writer and professional essay writers says.
Marital status and depression prevalence
Marital status is another factor that shows how depression varies in people. The divorced and separated people had the highest prevalence rates for lifetime depression and 12-month depression. Both depressions had their lowest rate in married people. This suggests something, perhaps. Also, there is a high prevalence rate among individuals that live with “common-law partners.” “Common law” here means that the man and woman are already living together like they’re married but fail to take the legal action to bind it says best essay writing services.
Immigration status
Generally, depression prevalence among people born in Canada is very high compared to those who immigrated, irrespective of the type of depression or gender.
Education as a prevalent factor
People that had very low educational levels, like lower than secondary education, have the lowest prevalence rate of lifetime depression (9.1%). The highest prevalence rate for lifetime depressions (13.4%) is seen in people with other post-secondary education. The pattern is also the same with 12 months depression g. While the results may mean that the prevalence of depression differs based on education levels, this relationship doesn’t have any linear pattern. For the 12 months and lifetime depression, the other post-secondary education had a higher prevalence rate than post-secondary education.
Household income level and depression
Lifetime depression had its highest prevalence rate (18.4%) in households with low-income levels and those who don’t make up to $10,000 in a year. The prevalence rate of this depression then starts to reduce as the level of income increases in families. This is the same pattern that was also observed when studying for 12-month depressions. The highest rate (11.3%) was found in families and households that didn’t makeup to $10,000 in a year. However, it appears that there’s some kind of threshold effect because the prevalence rate seems to reduce very quickly for when the income is up to $30,000 compared to when it’s for income above $30,000. The trend indicators show that for both lifetime depression and 12 months depression, the inverse relationship between the prevalence of depression and the income level is quite noticeable according to best essay writing.
Relationship between these sociodemographic factors and depression
- Men have a higher odds of getting affected by 12 months and lifetime depression than women by 0.60 times.
- Marital status is one of the most important predictors for the two types of depression.
- The chances of getting lifetime depression for individuals with post-secondary education is 1.54x compared to people who don’t have secondary education. The odds are statistically insignificant for 12 months of depression.
- Income is significantly associated with the two depression times. For an income level of as much as $30,000, the odds of a lifetime depression for subsequent $10,000 income increase to 0.82. At the same time, the ratio is 0.71 for 12-month depression.
- Immigrants have a higher prevalence rate for lifetime depressions, as much as 60%, compared to people born in Canada. The odds ratio for 12 months of depression is 0.83, but it isn’t significant statistically.
Conclusion
Depression is a significant mental health sickness, especially more coon and given more attention in western countries. However, there are numerous prevalence factors for depression, and these factors are common sociodemographic factors such as age, gender, income level, education level, immigrant status, etc. While these factors may not cause depression directly, they are prevalent factors for depression.