Anxiety, mood, and substance use disorders in United States African-American public housing residents.
BACKGROUND
African-Americans experience considerable mental healthcare disparities in the United States, but little is known about sensitive subgroups within this population. To better understand healthcare disparities within African-Americans communities, we characterized anxiety, mood, and substance use disorder prevalence and associated service utilization among public and non-public housing residents.


METHODS
We used data from a nationally representative sample of African-Americans recruited as part of the National Survey of American Life.


RESULTS
In public housing residents, the 12-month prevalence of anxiety disorders was 1.8 times higher than in non-public housing residents (P = 0.002), mood disorders was 1.4 times higher (P = 0.189), and substance use disorders was 2.2 times higher (P = 0.031). Public housing remained associated with mental illness after controlling for sociodemographics and chronic illness. Public and non-public housing residents did not differ significantly in mental healthcare utilization, but utilization was low with 16-30% of public housing residents with a 12-month disorder receiving mental health assistance.


CONCLUSIONS
A relatively high proportion of African-American public housing residents suffered from psychiatric disorders, and few received mental healthcare assistance, indicating that further work is needed to enhance utilization.
Simning
Adam
A
Department of Community and Preventive Medicine, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, NY 14642, USA. adam_simning@urmc.rochester.edu
van Wijngaarden
Edwin
E
Conwell
Yeates
Y
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology*; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology; D003625:Data Collection; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019964:Mood Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology; D011638:Public Housing; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult