Social Inequality And Common Mental Disorders.

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the association between the socioeconomic characteristics of individuals and common mental disorders. METHOD: A cross-sectional survey of a representative sample of the urban population, 14 years and older, in Campinas (Brazil) (n=515) was conducted using a multipurpose instrument that included the Self-Reporting Questionnaire (SRQ-20) to assess common mental disorders in the previous 3 months. Weighted prevalence of common mental disorders was calculated for each independent variable. Crude and adjusted prevalence ratios were estimated using Poisson regression. RESULTS: The overall prevalence was 17% (95% CI 12.8-22.3), 8.9% in males and 24.4% in females. An inverse association was found between common mental disorders and the socioeconomic characteristics (schooling and employment) even after controlling for all the other variables. Higher common mental disorders prevalence was observed in those with less than 5 years of schooling (PR=5.5) and unemployed or underemployed (PR=2.0). CONCLUSIONS: As in other studies, common mental disorders were unevenly distributed; it was significantly more frequent in socially disadvantaged individuals. Specific actions to reduce inequalities in the general and mental health system should be studied.29325025

Depressive symptoms in rheumatoid arthritis patients

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Objective To determine the prevalence of depressive and anxiety symptoms in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (a chronic inflammatory disease) in comparison to a control group with osteoarthritis (a chronic non inflammatory degenerative disease) and to identify the sociodemographic and clinical variables associated with depressive symptoms in these patients Method Sixty-two rheumatoid arthritis patients and 60 osteoarthritis patients participated in the study Sociodemographic and clinical data were collected and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale and the Disability Index of the Health Assessment Questionnaire were applied Results The prevalence of depressive symptoms was of 53 2% in rheumatoid arthritis and 28 3% in osteoarthritis (p = 0 005) The prevalence of anxiety symptoms was of 48 4% in rheumatoid arthritis and 50 0% in osteoarthritis (p = 0 859) The mean (and standard deviation) scores in the Disability Index of the Health Assessment Questionnaire were 1 4 (0 8) in rheumatoid arthritis and I 4 (0 6) in osteoarthritis (p = 0 864) Rheumatoid arthritis patients with depressive symptoms had lower education and higher disease activity and functional disability Conclusion Although these two rheumatic diseases are similar in terms of the pain and functional disability that they cause a significantly higher prevalence of depressive symptoms was found in rheumatoid arthritis patients This difference might be explained by the hypothesis of a neuroimmunobiological mechanism related to cytokines in inflammatory disease, which has been considered as a candidate to the development of depressive symptoms323257263Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq