Depressive symptoms in young women of the Piedmont: prevalence in rural women.

Abstract

Depression rates in women are twice that of men. In certain groups of women depression exceeds 40 percent. These groups include urban, poor, young mothers, and women who use primary health care facilities. We hypothesized that rates of depressive symptoms in rural women users of primary care would exceed those reported in population studies. Depressive symptoms were expected to be associated with common risk factors for depression. To test these hypotheses, 181 rural women, ages 18 to 52, were interviewed by telephone using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D). Of these, 41.4 percent reported depressive symptoms exceeding the cutoff score of 16 on the CES-D. The mean CES-D score for the entire sample was 15.3 and was 27.6 for women scoring over 16 on the CES-D. Young, unemployed, and poorly educated women were most likely to report depressive symptoms. These findings suggest that many rural women are at-risk for depression. High mean CES-D scores in women scoring above the cutoff indicate that rural women experience multiple and persistent depressive symptoms. These findings also show that women with fewer educational and economic resources report more depressive symptoms. Rural health professionals can increase detection of women at risk for depression by considering their age, and their education, and employment status.