Prevalence of depression and somatic symptoms among Korean elderly immigrants.
Forty-one Korean immigrants in Washington, D.C. (of the United States) metropolitan area over age 60 were interviewed using the Diagnostic Interview Schedule (Korean version) with additional questions about culture-specific somatic symptoms identified in previous research with Korean populations. The lifetime and current prevalence were 29.27 percent and 14.63 percent, respectively, for major depression; 9.76 percent and 2.44 percent for generalized anxiety disorder; and 9.76 percent and 7.32 percent for somatization disorder. The lifetime and current rates of co-occurrence of major depression and somatization disorder were 25 percent and 33.33 percent. Subjects who met criteria for depression were more likely to experience culture-specific Korean somatic symptoms than subjects who did not meet those criteria.
Pang
K Y
KY
College of Nursing, Howard University, Washington, D.C.
Lee
M H
MH
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003863:Depression / Q000453:epidemiology*; D004219:District of Columbia / Q000453:epidemiology; D004641:Emigration and Immigration; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007723:Korea / Q000208:ethnology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D011602:Psychophysiologic Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*