[Is depression a women's disease?].
The female preponderance in depression is one of the most robust findings in psychiatric epidemiology. The pertintent hypothesis of a possible role of biological and psychosocial factors and their relevance for the explanation of this gender gap are presented and discussed. Available data suggest that biological factors seem to exert an influence on the emergence of depression, but are unlikely to account for the gender differences in morbidity rates. Considering psychosocial factors like age, marital and employment status indicates that the claim that depression is more frequent in women is an oversimplification. There are groups were due to these variables no gender gap or even higher rates for males are observed.
Universitätsklinik für Psychiatrie, Wien. karin.gutierrez@akh-wien.ac.at
K
K
Gutiérrez-Lobos
B
B
Schmid-Siegel
E
E
Haubenstock
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001317:Austria / Q000453:epidemiology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors
Frauenkrankheit Depression?