Prevalence and correlates of mental disorders among Native American women in primary care.
OBJECTIVE
We examined the lifetime and the past-year prevalence and correlates of common mental disorders among American Indian and Alaska Native women who presented for primary care.


METHODS
We screened 489 consecutively presenting female primary care patients aged 18 through 45 years with the General Health Questionnaire, 12-item version. A subsample (n = 234) completed the Composite International Diagnostic Interview. We examined associations between psychiatric disorders and sociodemographic variables, boarding school attendance, and psychopathology in the family of origin.


RESULTS
The study participants had high rates of alcohol use disorders, anxiety disorders, and anxiety/depression comorbidity compared with other samples of non-American Indian/Alaska Native women in primary care settings.


CONCLUSIONS
There is a need for culturally appropriate mental health treatments and preventive services.
Duran
Bonnie
B
Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of New Mexico School of Medicine, Albuquerque, NM 87131-0001, USA. bonduran@unm.edu
Sanders
Margaret
M
Skipper
Betty
B
Waitzkin
Howard
H
Malcoe
Lorraine Halinka
LH
Paine
Susan
S
Yager
Joel
J
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D005260:Female; D006768:Hospitals, Federal; D006801:Humans; D007198:Indians, North American / Q000523:psychology*; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000145:classification / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009516:New Mexico / Q000453:epidemiology; D010044:Outpatient Clinics, Hospital; D015995:Prevalence; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States; D016549:United States Indian Health Service; D016387:Women's Health