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Delays in depression treatment among K orean population
Author(s) -
Ki Myung,
Paik JongWoo,
Choi KyeongSook,
Ryu SeungHo,
Han Changsu,
Lee Kangjoon,
Ham Byung Joo,
Chang Hun Soo,
Won EunSoo,
Jun TaeYoun,
Lee MinSoo
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
asia‐pacific psychiatry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.654
H-Index - 21
eISSN - 1758-5872
pISSN - 1758-5864
DOI - 10.1111/appy.12140
Subject(s) - depression (economics) , medicine , mental health , logistic regression , poisson regression , odds ratio , psychiatry , demography , population , mental health service , environmental health , sociology , economics , macroeconomics
Delays in mental health service utilization for patients with depression have been observed globally. To elucidate some aspects of delays, age‐related associations with a series of variables representing different stages of mental health service use were studied concurrently. Methods A total of 1,433 patients with depression participated in a nationwide K orean D epressive P atient S urvey through the collaboration of 70 psychiatric clinics and hospitals. Using logistic and Poisson regression, we investigated whether there is variation in the associations by age. Results Patients with depression in S outh K orea spent 3.4 years on average before starting a first depression treatment after the onset of depression, and 58% of them entered depression treatment in the first year of onset. Early onset appeared to lower the chance of “early depression treatment”: e.g., adjusted odds ratio ( OR )s for onset age of 40–54, 25–39 and <25 versus ≥55 were 0.65 (95% CI = 0.44, 0.94), 0.36 (95% CI = 0.16, 0.81) and 0.18 (95% CI = 0.06, 0.48), respectively. In contrast, favorable associations of early onset with “self‐recognition as depression” and “number of nonpsychiatric clinics attended” before visiting psychiatrist were found. Younger cohorts were associated with more positive attitudes toward all mental health utilization measures. Discussion Delays in depression treatment are lengthy in S outh K orea. Those with early onset are more likely to have delayed depression treatment but are more willing to seek help from a psychiatrist once they sought for the treatment.