PREVALENCE AND CORRELATES OF DEPRESSIVE SYNDROMES AMONG ADULTS VISITING AN INDIAN HEALTH-SERVICE PRIMARY-CARE CLINIC

Depression is common among patients visiting primary care clinics. In order to describe the prevalence of depressive syndromes in an America n Indian primary care clinic population and to help define the clinica l correlates of depressive syndromes in this setting, a clinic-based r esearch study of depression was undertaken by the Indian Health Servic e (IHS). One hundred and six patients from an IHS primary care clinic were systematically enlisted for participation in the study. Participa nts completed the Inventory for Diagnosing Depression (IDD). Twenty-tw o (20.7%) responded with answers scoring positive for a depressive syn drome. Nine of these 22 (8.9% of the 106 participants) met IDD criteri a for a major depressive syndrome. A diagnosis of depression, a past h istory of depression, use of mental health facilities, unexplained pai ns, and antidepressant medication use were associated with the presenc e of a depressive syndrome.