Anxious-depression among Hispanic/Latinos from different backgrounds: results from the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos (HCHS/SOL)

BACKGROUND: Anxious-depression is a constellation of symptoms, frequently encountered among patients in primary care centers. There is a need to study how anxious-depression presents among Hispanic/Latinos of different backgrounds. OBJECTIVE: To study the construct of anxious-depression among 16,064 Hispanic/Latinos of different backgrounds participating in the Hispanic Community Health Study/ Study of Latinos (HCHS/SOL). We hypothesized that Hispanic/Latinos will cluster in 3 classes: low anxiety/high depression, high anxiety/low depression and a combined anxious-depression construct. METHODS: Using latent profile analysis, symptoms of depression and anxiety measured by the 10-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) and 10-item State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) were evaluated to determine if an anxious-depression typology would result. A multinomial logistic regression analysis explored the association of the 3-class solution with different Hispanic/Latino backgrounds controlling for age, gender, language, education and income. RESULTS: A 3-class mixed anxious-depression structure emerged with 10% of Hispanic/Latinos in the high, 30% in the moderate and 60% in the low anxious-depression category. After adjusting for age, gender, language preference, income and education, individuals of Puerto-Rican background were more likely to experience high (OR=1.79,p<0.05) and moderate (OR=1.36,p<0.05) (vs.low) anxious-depression symptomatology compared to those of Mexican background. Individuals of Central-American and South-American background were less likely to experience high (OR=0.68,p<0.05) and moderate (OR=0.8,p<0.05) (vs.low) anxious-depression compared to those of Mexican background. CONCLUSION: Anxious-depression symptomatology varied among this sample of Hispanic/Latino groups. These classes should be investigated as to their relationship with different health outcomes relevant to the Hispanic/Latino of different backgrounds