Depression, anxiety, antidepressant use, and cardiovascular disease among Hispanic men and women of different national backgrounds: results from the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos

Describe prevalence and relationships to cardiovascular morbidity of depression, anxiety and medication use among Hispanic/Latinos of different ethnic backgrounds

Depression, anxiety, antidepressant use, and cardiovascular disease among Hispanic men and women of different national backgrounds: results from the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos

PURPOSE: Describe prevalence and relationships to cardiovascular morbidity of depression, anxiety and medication use among Hispanic/Latinos of different ethnic backgrounds. METHODS: Cross-sectional analysis of 15,864 men and women ages 18–74 in the population-based Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos. Depressive and anxiety symptoms were assessed with shortened Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression scale and Spielberger Trait Anxiety Scale. RESULTS: Prevalence of high depressive symptoms ranged from low of 22.3% (95%CI: 20.4–24.3) to high of 38.0% (95%CI: 35.2–41.0) among those of Mexican or Puerto Rican background respectively. Adjusted odds ratios for depression rose monotonically with number of CVD risk factors from 1.46 (95%CI: 1.18, 1.75) for those with no risk factors to 4.36 (95%CI: 2.47, 7.70) for those with 5 risk factors. Antidepressant medication was used by 5% with striking differences between those with and without history of CVD (15.4% and 4.6% respectively) and between insured (8.2%) and uninsured (1.8%). CONCLUSIONS: Among US Hispanics/Latinos, high depression and anxiety symptoms varied nearly twofold by Hispanic background and sex, history of CVD and increasing number of CVD risk factors. Antidepressant medication use was lower than in the general population, suggesting under treatment especially among those who had no health insurance