Division of Health Policy and Management, University of Minnesota School of Public Health, University of Minnesota School of Public Health, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.
Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Division of Rehabilitation Psychology and Neuropsychology, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
Clin Gerontol. 2023 Jan-Feb;46(1):14-26. doi: 10.1080/07317115.2021.1976893. Epub 2021 Sep 16.
Before, during, and after their immigration to the United States, immigrants face stressful life circumstances that may render them at risk for depressive symptoms. However, there is a dearth of research on the mental health of African immigrants. We performed secondary data analyses of two studies in the Baltimore-Washington area to describe and identify correlates of depressive symptoms in older African immigrants.
Chi square tests, one-way ANOVAs, and linear regressions were used to describe and examine associations between depressive symptoms and immigrant-related risk factors.
This sample included 148 participants who had a mean age of 62 (SD ± 8.2). Clinical depressive symptoms were present in 8.1% of participants, and trouble falling asleep for more than half of the days was the most prevalent symptom (20%). Levels of education, income, and migration reasons differed significantly from clinical depressive symptoms, but these were not significantly associated with more depressive symptoms after controlling for covariates.
Longitudinal designs may further elucidate incidence, correlates, and long-term effects of depressive symptoms within this population.
Knowledge of depressive symptom burden and risk factors can inform timely assessment, referral, and treatment of depressive symptoms and other mental health outcomes in older African immigrants.
移民到美国之前、期间和之后，移民都面临着可能导致抑郁症状的压力生活环境。然而，关于非洲移民心理健康的研究却很少。我们对巴尔的摩-华盛顿地区的两项研究进行了二次数据分析，以描述和确定老年非洲移民抑郁症状的相关因素。
采用卡方检验、单因素方差分析和线性回归来描述和检查抑郁症状与移民相关风险因素之间的关联。
本样本包括 148 名参与者，平均年龄为 62 岁（标准差±8.2）。8.1%的参与者存在临床抑郁症状，超过一半的日子入睡困难是最常见的症状（20%）。教育程度、收入和移民原因与临床抑郁症状差异显著，但在控制了协变量后，这些因素与更多的抑郁症状并无显著关联。
纵向设计可能会进一步阐明这一人群中抑郁症状的发生率、相关因素和长期影响。
了解抑郁症状负担和风险因素，可以为老年非洲移民及时评估、转介和治疗抑郁症状和其他心理健康结果提供信息。
