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Risk factors for common mental disorders in women

Population-based longitudinal study

London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK, and Sangath, Porvorim, Goa, India

BETTY R. KIRKWOOD, MA, MSc, FMedSci

London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK

SULOCHANA PEDNEKAR, MA

Sangath, Porvorim, Goa, India

HELEN WEISS, PhD and DAVID MABEY, DM, FRCP

London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK

Correspondence: Dr Vikram Patel, Sangath, 831/1 Alto-Porvorim, Goa, India 403521. Fax: +91 832 2411709; email: Vikram.patel{at}lshtm.ac.uk

Declaration of interest None.

Background The determinants of common mental disorders in women have not been described in longitudinal studies from a low-income country.

Method Population-based cohort study of 2494 women aged 18 to 50 years, in India. The Revised Clinical Interview Schedule was used for the detection of common mental disorders.

Results There were 39 incidentcases of common mental disorder in 2166 participants eligible for analysis (12-month rate 1.8%, 95% CI 1.3–2.4%). The following baseline factors were independently associated with the risk for common mental disorder: poverty (low income and having difficulty making ends meet); being married as compared with being single; use of tobacco; experiencing abnormal vaginal discharge; reporting a chronic physical illness; and having higher psychological symptom scores at baseline.

Conclusions Programmes to reduce the burden of common mental disorder in women should target poorer women, women with chronic physical illness and who have gynaecological symptoms, and women who use tobacco.

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