Poorer Canadians more likely to be hospitalized for depression: CIHI

From EndCanadianPoverty.ca

• Date: February 26th, 2009
• Source: CBC News
• Link to article:Poorer Canadians more likely to be hospitalized for depression: CIHI

"Lower-income Canadians are more likely to suffer bouts of depression that puts them in hospital than wealthier men and women, according to a new study released Wednesday.

The Canadian Institute for Health Information said the poorest Canadians were hospitalized to a greater extent for depression-related illness than richer citizens.

The study showed that the lowest-income quintile made up 19.2 per cent of the country's population between the ages of 15 to 64 and living in 13 Canadian cities.

This group, however, made 25.5 per cent of visit to hospital for depression.

By contrast, the richest Canadians represented 20.5 per cent of the country's adult population but only resulted in 15.5 per cent of depression-related stays in an institution, CIHI said.

The study's results generally back up previous Canadian reports and research conducted in other countries, said CIHI.

"The association between various mental health conditions and unemployment, homelessness, poverty, lower levels of education and lack of social supports have been identified in the Canadian population, as well as in those of other countries," said the 16-page report.

A recent report by Statistics Canada, for example, found that lower-income men were 1.58 times more likely than wealthier males to become "distressed" from usual problems, such as job-related stress, and more subtle issues, like living in an undesirable neighbourhood.

Poorer women were 25 per cent more likely to suffer from some depression episode than richer females, the report said.

CIHI, a publicly-funded Ottawa organization which reports on various aspects of Canada's health system, said the latest study measured usage of mental health services as opposed to depression that was self-diagnosed.

In CIHI's study, however, lower-income Canadians actually did not stay in the hospital any longer than wealthier men and women. The study hypothesized that poorer citizens might only use available facilities when their depressive bouts become debilitating."