African-American women with lower socioeconomic status and suffering from hypertension may be more likely to be diagnosed with depression, new research has found.
In JAMA Psychiatry, researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health studied more than 300 African-American women in mid-adulthood regarded as having low socioeconomic status.
Among the patients, all of which suffered from hypertension, it was found that the majority had been diagnosed with depression, after scoring a 10 or greater on a standard clinical questionnaire. The questionnaire used was the CES-10-D.
From a news release of the findings: “Our findings suggest that low-income, middle-aged African-American women with hypertension really should be screened for depression symptoms.”
“The nearly 60 percent prevalence of apparent depression among these hypertensive, low-income middle-aged African American women suggests that these women should be routinely screened for, and, if need be, treated for depression,” researchers recommended.
