Depression in Puerto Rico and Major Risk Factors

Rationale. Depression is a major health problem associated to mental and physical disabilities and suicide. There is no information about the details of the extension and distribution of the problem in Puerto Rico. Data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) from CDC was used. Purpose. Assess the prevalence and distribution of depression in Puerto Rico and identify its major risk factors. Methods. Data were analyzed using the SPSS statistical package. The overall prevalence and the prevalence by specific selected variables were conducted by using sampling weights to estimate the real population distribution of Puerto Rico. The crude and adjusted prevalence ratios were calculated for selected variables by using Poisson regression. Results. The overall prevalence was 18.1 per 100 population while in the U.S. is 15.7 per 100. Females had higher prevalence than males, depression increased with age, prevalence decreased as income increased, had higher prevalence rates of depression couples not living together, disabled, unemployed, persons with history of myocardial infarction, coronary heart disease, asthma, diabetes and smokers. Conclusions. Puerto Rico is among the nine U.S. states/territories with the highest prevalence of depression. Several non-modifiable risk factors were identified such as older age, male gender, and history of selected diseases and conditions that can be used to identify high risk groups. Modifiable risk factors such as couples not living together, unemployment, low income, and smoking were also identified and assessed. More studies should be conducted to identify more modifiable risk factors to be used for prevention.