title: Migration from Mexico to the United States and subsequent risk for depressive and anxiety disorders: a cross-national study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Migration is suspected to increase risk for depressive and anxiety disorders.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To test the hypothesized increase in risk for depressive and anxiety disorders after arrival in the United States among Mexican migrants.
  
  
  METHODS
  We combined data from surveys conducted separately in Mexico and the United States that used the same diagnostic interview. Discrete time survival models were specified to estimate the relative odds of first onset of depressive disorders (major depressive episode and dysthymia) and anxiety disorders (generalized anxiety disorder, social phobia, panic disorder, and posttraumatic stress disorder) among migrants after their arrival in the United States compared with nonmigrant Mexicans who have a migrant in their immediate family.
  
  
  METHODS
  Population surveys in the United States and Mexico.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two thousand five hundred nineteen nonmigrant family members of migrants in Mexico and 554 Mexican migrants in the United States.
  
  
  METHODS
  First onset of any depressive or anxiety disorder.
  
  
  RESULTS
  After arrival in the United States, migrants had a significantly higher risk for first onset of any depressive or anxiety disorder than did nonmigrant family members of migrants in Mexico (odds ratio, 1.42; 95% confidence interval, 1.04-1.94). Associations between migration and disorder varied across birth cohorts. Elevated risk among migrants relative to nonmigrants was restricted to the 2 younger cohorts (those aged 18-25 or 26-35 years at interview). In the most recent birth cohort, the association between migration and first onset of any depressive or anxiety disorder was particularly strong (odds ratio, 3.89; 95% confidence interval, 2.74-5.53).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This is, to our knowledge, the first study to compare risk for first onset of psychiatric disorder between representative samples of migrants in the United States and nonmigrants in Mexico. The findings are consistent with the hypothesized adverse effect of migration from Mexico to the United States on the mental health of migrants, but only among migrants in recent birth cohorts.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, University of California, Davis, School of Medicine, Sacramento, CA 95817, USA. joshua.breslau@ucdmc.ucdavis.edu
authors.forename: Joshua
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Breslau
authors.forename: Guilherme
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Borges
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Tancredi
authors.forename: Naomi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Saito
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kravitz
authors.forename: Ladson
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hinton
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Vega
authors.forename: Maria Elena
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Medina-Mora
authors.forename: Sergio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Aguilar-Gaxiola
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology; D004641:Emigration and Immigration / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008800:Mexico / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology; D008875:Middle Aged; D016017:Odds Ratio; D014171:Transients and Migrants / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology