Prevalence of maternal depressive symptoms in low-income Hispanic women.
BACKGROUND
Maternal depression can have significant repercussions for the health and well-being of mothers and children. In primarily white middle-income populations, approximately 15% of mothers experience depression. Among ethnically and socioeconomically diverse populations, the prevalence of maternal depression has not been as well established. However, the highest rates have been observed among low-income women. Because information about minority, underserved women is particularly sparse, we utilize data from the San Mateo County, California, Prenatal to Three project to describe the prevalence and self-recognition of depressive symptoms among low-income Hispanic mothers of infants and toddlers.


METHODS
Telephone interviews of a random sample of women who received Medicaid and gave birth in San Mateo County provided our sample of 218 nonpregnant Hispanic mothers. High levels of depressive symptoms were defined as a score of > or =10 on the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS). We performed descriptive analyses and analyses of variance.


RESULTS
Twenty-three percent of mothers reported high levels of depressive symptoms. Half of them recognized a need for help with depression.


CONCLUSIONS
High levels of maternal depressive symptoms were prevalent among the Hispanic women on Medicaid, but only half of the women experiencing these symptoms identified themselves as needing help with depression.
Chaudron
Linda H
LH
Department of Psychiatry, University of Rochester School of Medicine, Rochester, NY 14642, USA. Linda_Chaudron@urmc.rochester.edu
Kitzman
Harriet J
HJ
Peifer
Karen L
KL
Morrow
Scott
S
Perez
Linda M
LM
Newman
Mary C
MC
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002140:California / Q000453:epidemiology; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006306:Health Surveys; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D017533:Marital Status; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010298:Parity; D010555:Personality Inventory; D011203:Poverty / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires