Abstract

Objective: This study examined the associations between social factors and major mood disorders and adjustment disorders in the population of Taiwan. Method: The outpatient claims data for a population of 925,415 persons randomly sampled from the 2005 National Health Insurance (NHI) database were used in this study to establish a study cohort of 749,823 persons insured in 1996. This cohort was followed up until 2006. The cases of major mood and adjustment disorders were identified using the International Code of disease 9th Revision Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM) and A codes. The information on social demographic factors including unemployment, marriage and poverty-household rates were obtained from the Annual Statistics of Ministry of the Interior. The Spearman correlation and simple linear regression were used to measure the associations between social factors and the mental disorders. Result: Positive correlations were found in children 15-19 years of age between their incident rates of major mood disorder and the three social factors including unemployment, marriage and poverty-household rates, while negative correlations were found for the groups aged 45 years or above. The incident adjustment disorder was positively correlated with the rates of divorce and poverty in both sexes and all age groups. Positive correlations were also found between the monthly incident rates of adjustment disorders and the monthly unemployment rates in 19967-2006 years. Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that there are significant associations between social factors and the mental health for population in 15 to 29 years of age, but not for those aged 45 years or above. The government should keep an eye on the negative social factors and provide prevention programs for people at risk.

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