title: Psychiatric disorders. A rural/urban comparison.
abstract: We studied rural/urban differences in the prevalence of nine psychiatric disorders from a community survey (part of the Epidemiologic Catchment Area Program) of 3,921 adults living in the Piedmont of North Carolina. Crude comparisons disclosed that major depressive episodes and drug abuse and/or dependence were more common in the urban area, whereas alcohol abuse/dependence was more common in the rural area. When prevalence for these disorders was stratified for age, sex, race, and education (factors that may confound urban/rural comparisons), a number of significant differences were identified, such as higher prevalence of major depression in female and white subjects and higher prevalence of alcohol abuse/dependence in the less educated subjects. A logistic-regression analysis was used to determine if significant urban/rural differences persisted when these potential confounders were controlled. Major depressive disorders were found to be twice as frequent in the urban area in this controlled analysis.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000379:Agoraphobia / Q000453:epidemiology; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000453:epidemiology; D000987:Antisocial Personality Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology; D004522:Educational Status; D005006:Ethnicity; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008393:Marriage; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009657:North Carolina; D009771:Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology; D012424:Rural Population; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000453:epidemiology; D012737:Sex Factors; D012923:Social Class; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology; D014505:Urban Population