Depression in Rural Communities and Primary Care Clinics in Chiapas, Mexico

DOI

10.2991/jegh.k.181128.001How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Chiapas; depression; Mexico; prevalence; rural

Abstract

Depression is a leading cause of disability worldwide and can be diagnosed and treated in primary care clinics. No studies to date have demonstrated the prevalence of depression in rural, primary care settings in Mexico. The objective of this study is to describe the prevalence of visits for depression in primary care settings in one group of rural communities within Chiapas, Mexico. We performed a cross-sectional, retrospective study of depression prevalence in primary care clinics in the Sierra region of Chiapas, Mexico during the calendar year of 2014. We determined the average depression prevalence is 7.9% (6 community clinics, n = 4555). The prevalence of depression in rural Chiapas, Mexico is much higher than the Mexican national average of 4.0–4.5% found in a home-based survey. Further efforts to understand the causes, develop improved mental health services in primary care, and reduce the higher burden of depression in rural communities in Mexico are urgently needed.

Copyright

© 2019 Atlantis Press International B.V.

Open Access

This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC 4.0 license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).

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TY  - JOUR
AU  - Michael L. Elliott
AU  - Mercedes Aguerrebere
AU  - Patrick F. Elliott
PY  - 2019
DA  - 2019/01/01
TI  - Depression in Rural Communities and Primary Care Clinics in Chiapas, Mexico
JO  - Journal of Epidemiology and Global Health
SP  - 103
EP  - 106
VL  - 9
IS  - 2
SN  - 2210-6014
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/jegh.k.181128.001
DO  - 10.2991/jegh.k.181128.001
ID  - Elliott2019
ER  -