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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
Wen-Hung Kuo, PhD, SM, Division of STD Prevention/Behavioral Intervention Research Branch, CDC/SUNY Downstate Medical Center, 1600 Clifton Rd. MS-E4, Atlanta, GA 30324, 404-639-8977, wdk4@cdc.gov, Tracey E. Wilson, PhD, Preventive Medicine, SUNY Downstate Medical Center, 450 Clarkson Avenue, Box 1240, Brooklyn, NY 11203, and Howard Minkoff, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Maimonides Medical Center, 967 48th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11219.
Objective: The Latino population is the fastest growing ethnic group in the United States. Despite this, very little is known about factors related to the women’s prenatal health in this population. To address this, we sought to examine rates and determinants of perinatal depression among a sample of Latina women in the US.
Method: 3988 parturient Hispanic women were recruited and interviewed in the postpartum wards of six hospitals in San Francisco CA, Miami FL, and Brooklyn, NY. Covariates of interest included mothers’ immigration status, levels of perceived social support and acculturation to American culture, and their prenatal health insurance coverage. Level of depression was measured by CES-D. T-test, chi-square were utilized. Potential confounders, such as mothers’ age, income, education, marital status, illicit substance use (marijuana and other illegal drugs), and employment status, were adjusted by multiple logistic regression.
Results: 39.3% of participants were probable cases of depression (CES-D > 16). After adjusting for potential confounding effects, depression was associated with perceived level of social support (adjusted OR=0.96 per point of increase, 95% CI:0.95 - 0.97), health insurance coverage (adjusted OR=0.68, 95% CI: 0.49- 0.95). Being illegal or undocumented immigrants and lower adaptation to mainstream American culture did not increase the risk of depression.
Conclusion: There were high levels of perinatal depression in this sample of Latina women. However, level of perinatal depression might be alleviated by higher degree of social support and perinatal health insurance coverage. These findings suggest that this population should be monitored in the prenatal period for depression levels, and appropriate support structure should be established.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Depression, Latino Mental Health
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.