期刊
SCANDINAVIAN JOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH
卷 49, 期 3, 页码 317-324出版社
SAGE PUBLICATIONS LTD
DOI: 10.1177/1403494820944736
关键词
Mental health; gender inequalities; medicalisation; Spain
资金
- Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovacion y Universidades [RTI2018-098796-A-I00]
Women are more likely to be diagnosed with depression or anxiety and consume prescribed psychotropic drugs compared to men, even after adjusting for various factors. No gender inequalities were observed in those under 45 or with the highest level of education.
Aims:Clinical studies show that women are more likely to be diagnosed with depression and anxiety, and to consume prescribed psychotropic drugs. Applying an intersectional perspective that considers age, education and social class, the present study assesses gender inequalities in the diagnosis of depression/anxiety and in psychotropic consumption.Methods:We analysed data from the 2018 Basque Country Health Survey (Spain;n=8014). Prevalence rates of poor mental health, diagnosis of depression/anxiety and psychotropic consumption were calculated for each sex by age and socio-economic status. Poisson regression models were calculated to estimate PRs of these variables in women, adjusted for age, mental health status and health-care visits, and for diagnosis of depression/anxiety in the case of psychotropic drug consumption.Results:Women were 2.48 times more likely than men to be diagnosed with depression or anxiety, and this difference remained significant after adjustments (prevalence ratio (PR)=1.86; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.40-2.47). Women also took significantly more prescribed psychotropic drugs, even controlling for their poorer mental health, their higher prevalence of diagnosis and their more frequent health-care visits (PR=1.52; 95% CI 1.28-1.82). No gender inequalities were observed in those younger than 45 or with the highest level of education.Conclusions:Gender inequalities in the diagnosis and prescription of psychotropic drugs exist, and these cannot be explained by differences in mental-health status or health-care visit frequency. It seems, then, that medicalisation of mental health is occurring among women. Further evidence about the mechanisms that underlie the results is crucial to design truly gender-sensitive health policies that reduce medicalisation of women's mental health.
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