Assessing the prevalence of depression in Punjabi and English primary care attenders: the role of culture, physical illness and somatic symptoms.
Previous studies exploring the prevalence of depression among South Asians reported inconsistent findings. Research artefacts due to sampling bias, measurements errors and a failure to include ethnographic methods may all explain this. We estimated the prevalence of depression, and variations of prevalence with culture, cultural adaptation, somatic symptoms and physical disability in a cross-sectional primary care survey of Punjabi and English attendees. We included a culture specific screening instrument, culturally adapted the instruments and offered bilingual interviews. We found that, compared with their English counterparts, depressive diagnoses were more common among Punjabis, Punjabi women, Punjabis with physical complaints and, contrary to expectation, even Punjabis with low scores for somatic symptoms.
Bhui
Kamaldeep
K
Barts & The London School of Medicine, Queen Mary College, UK. k.s.bhui@qmul.ac.uk
Bhugra
Dinesh
D
Goldberg
David
D
Sauer
Justin
J
Tylee
Andre
A
D000069:Acculturation; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology; D015897:Comorbidity; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000208:ethnology; D008131:London; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012737:Sex Factors; D012803:Sick Role; D013001:Somatoform Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology*; D014505:Urban Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*