Dataset Information

Religious affiliation and major depressive episode in older adults: a cross-sectional study in six low- and middle- income countries.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The relationship of religious affiliation and mental health is complex, and being part of a minority religious group could have negative effects on mental health. In this study, we assessed the association between religious affiliation and major depressive episode (MDE) in older adults (>?=?60?years) from China, Ghana, India, Mexico, Russia and South Africa.

Methods

We conducted a secondary analysis of data from the Study on global Ageing and adult health (SAGE), with six nationally-representative community-based samples (n?=?21,410). Religious affiliation was self-reported by participants, and we defined MDE based on ICD-10 classification. We estimated the association of MDE with religious affiliation versus no religious affiliation, and minority versus majority affiliation.

Results

We observed no association between having a religious affiliation (vs. no affiliation) and the odds of MDE in older adults. In most cases minorities had higher odds of MDE as compared with the majority religion, but the associations were only significant for Muslims in Ghana and for Muslims, Hindus and Other in South Africa.

Conclusions

While the results were significant only for two countries, we observed higher odds of MDE among minorities in most of them. Older adults who are members of religious minorities might be at risk for mental health problems, and there is a need for public health interventions aimed at them.

SUBMITTER: Fernandez-Nino JA

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6492427 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Religious affiliation and major depressive episode in older adults: a cross-sectional study in six low- and middle- income countries.

Fernández-Niño Julian A JA Bojorquez Ietza I Becerra-Arias Carolina C Astudillo-Garcia Claudia I CI

BMC public health 20190430 1

<h4>Background</h4>The relationship of religious affiliation and mental health is complex, and being part of a minority religious group could have negative effects on mental health. In this study, we assessed the association between religious affiliation and major depressive episode (MDE) in older adults (> = 60 years) from China, Ghana, India, Mexico, Russia and South Africa.<h4>Methods</h4>We conducted a secondary analysis of data from the Study on global Ageing and adult health (SAGE), with s ...[more]

PMID: 31039777

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Project description:BackgroundAlthough religious affiliation has been identified as a potential barrier to immunization in some African countries, there are no systematic multi-country analyses, including within-country variability, on this issue. We investigated whether immunization varied according to religious affiliation and sex of the child in sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries.MethodsWe used data from 15 nationally representative surveys from 2010 to 2016. The major religious groups were described by country in terms of wealth, residence, and education. Proportions of fully immunized and unvaccinated children were stratified by country, maternal religion, and sex of the child. Poisson regression with robust variance was used to assess whether the outcomes varied according to religion, with and without adjustment for the above cited sociodemographic confounders. Interactions between child sex and religion were investigated.ResultsFifteen countries had >10% of families affiliated with Christianity and >10% affiliated with Islam, and four also had >10% practicing folk religions. In general, Christians were wealthier, more educated and more urban. Nine countries had significantly lower full immunization coverage among Muslims than Christians (pooled prevalence ratio = 0.81; 95%CI: 0.79-0.83), of which seven remained significant after adjustment for confounders (pooled ratio = 0.90; 0.87-0.92). Four countries had higher coverage among Muslims, of which two remained significant after adjustment. Regarding unvaccinated children, six countries showed higher proportions among Muslims, all of which remained significant after adjustment [crude pooled ratio = 1.83 (1.59-2.07); adjusted = 1.31 (1.14-1.48)]. Children from families practicing folk religions did not show any consistent patterns in immunization. Child sex was not consistently associated with vaccination.ConclusionMuslim religion was associated with lower vaccine coverage in several SSA countries, both for boys and girls. The involvement of religious leaders is essential for increasing immunization coverage and supporting the leave no one behind agenda of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Dataset Information

Religious affiliation and major depressive episode in older adults: a cross-sectional study in six low- and middle- income countries.

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Publications

Religious affiliation and major depressive episode in older adults: a cross-sectional study in six low- and middle- income countries.

Similar Datasets

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