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Socio-economic position and common mental disorders

Longitudinal study in the general population in the UK

Departments of Psychiatry, University of Bristol, UK and University of Ioannina School of Medicine, Greece

Scott Weich, MSc, MD

Section of Psychiatry, Division of Health in the Community, Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick

Glyn Lewis, PhD, FRCPsych

Department of Psychiatry, University of Bristol

Nicola Singleton, BSc

Social Survey Division, Office for National Statistics, London

Ricardo Araya, MRCPsych, PhD

Department of Psychiatry, University of Bristol, UK

Correspondence: Petros Skapinakis, Department of Psychiatry, University of Bristol, Cotham House, Cotham Hill, Bristol BS6 6JL, UK. Email: p.skapinakis{at}bristol.ac.uk

Declaration of interest None.

Background Individuals in lower socio socio-economic groups have an increased prevalence of common mental disorders.

Aims To investigate the longitudinal association between socio-economic position and common mental disorders in a general population sample in the UK.

Method Participants (n=2406) were assessed at two time points 18 months apart with the Revised Clinical Interview Schedule. The sample was stratified into two cohorts according to mental health status at baseline.

Results None of the socio-economic indicators studied was significantly associated with an episode of common mental disorder at follow-up after adjusting for baseline psychiatric morbidity. The analysis of separate diagnostic categories showed that subjective financial difficulties at baseline were independently associated with depression at follow-up in both cohorts.

Conclusions These findings support the view that apart from objective measures of socio-economic position, more subjective measures might be equally important from an aetiological or clinical perspective.

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Highlights of this issue

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BJP 2006 189: A5. [Full Text]  

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				E. Laaksonen, P. Martikainen, E. Lahelma, T. Lallukka, O. Rahkonen, J. Head, and M. Marmot Socioeconomic circumstances and common mental disorders among Finnish and British public sector employees: evidence from the Helsinki Health Study and the Whitehall II Study Int. J. Epidemiol., August 1, 2007; 36(4): 776 - 786. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				P. Skapinakis Commentary: Socioeconomic position and common mental disorders: what do we need to know? Int. J. Epidemiol., August 1, 2007; 36(4): 786 - 788. [Full Text] [PDF]

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