Perception of Community Tolerance and Prevalence of Depression among Transgender Persons.

PURPOSE: The goal of the study was to examine the association between depression and perceived community tolerance after controlling for various demographic and personal characteristics, treatment receipt, and past experiences with abuse or discrimination. METHODS: An on-line survey assessed depressive symptoms among transgender and gender non-conforming individuals. Depression was assessed using the 7-item Beck Depression Inventory for Primary Care (BDI-PC) and the 10-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CESD-10) scale. RESULTS: The prevalence ratios (95% confidence intervals) comparing depression in persons who did and did not perceive their area as tolerant were 0.33 (0.20-0.54) for BD-PC and 0.66 (0.49-0.89) for CESD-10. Other factors associated with depression were experience with abuse or discrimination, lower education, and unfulfilled desire to receive hormonal therapy. CONCLUSION: Depression was common in this sample of transgender and gender non-conforming individuals and was strongly and consistently associated with participants' perceptions of community tolerance, even after adjusting for possible confounding. The association between desire to receive hormonal therapy and depression is a finding that warrants further exploration. Future research should also assess depression and changes in perception of community tolerance in transgender individuals before and after initiation of gender confirmation treatment.

Comorbid depression, chronic pain, and disability in primary care.

OBJECTIVES: The objectives of this study were to provide estimates of the prevalence and strength of association between major depression and chronic pain in a primary care population and to examine the clinical burden associated with the two conditions, singly and together. METHODS: A random sample of Kaiser Permanente patients who visited a primary care clinic was mailed a questionnaire assessing major depressive disorder (MDD), chronic pain, pain-related disability, somatic symptom severity, panic disorder, other anxiety, probable alcohol abuse, and health-related quality of life (HRQL). Instruments included the Patient Health Questionnaire, SF-8, and Graded Chronic Pain Questionnaire. A total of 5808 patients responded (54% of those eligible to participate). RESULTS: Among those with MDD, a significantly higher proportion reported chronic (i.e., nondisabling or disabling) pain than those without MDD (66% versus 43%, respectively). Disabling chronic pain was present in 41% of those with MDD versus 10% of those without MDD. Respondents with comorbid depression and disabling chronic pain had significantly poorer HRQL, greater somatic symptom severity, and higher prevalence of panic disorder than other respondents. The prevalence of probable alcohol abuse/dependence was significantly higher among persons with MDD compared with individuals without MDD regardless of pain or disability level. Compared with participants without MDD, the prevalence of other anxiety among those with MDD was more than sixfold greater regardless of pain or disability level. CONCLUSIONS: Chronic pain is common among those with MDD. Comorbid MDD and disabling chronic pain are associated with greater clinical burden than MDD alone.

Trends in use of antidepressants, lithium, and anticonvulsants in Kaiser Permanente-insured youths, 1994-2003.

In view of the current controversy regarding the use of antidepressants in children and adolescents, we examined trends from 1994 to 2003 in the use of antidepressants, lithium, and anticonvulsants by enrollees, aged 5-17 years, of Kaiser Permanente in Northern California. We found that the use of antidepressants more than doubled from 9.4 per 1000 enrollees to 21.3 per 1000. Most of this increase is associated with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), which increased from 4.6 to 14.5 per 1000. The use of tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs) decreased markedly, while the increase of other newer antidepressants rose from 1.3 to 6.5 per 1000. The use of anticonvulsants nearly doubled, from 3.5 to 6.9 per 1000, while lithium use was relatively stable at a rate of nearly 1 per 1000. Use of SSRIs, newer antidepressants, and anticonvulsants increased in boys as well as girls in each of three age groups: 5-9, 10-14, and 15-17 years. An increasing percentage of the antidepressant users had a diagnosis of depression, and an increasing percentage of anticonvulsant users had a diagnosis of bipolar disorder. Although the safety and efficacy of antidepressants in youths needs to be more firmly established, these findings may reflect progress in the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness.

A web-delivered care management and patient self-management program for recurrent depression: a randomized trial.

OBJECTIVE This study assessed the impact of an Internet-delivered care management and patient self-management program, eCare for Moods, on patients treated for recurrent or chronic depression. METHODS Patients with recurrent or chronic depression were randomly assigned to eCare (N=51) or usual specialty mental health care (N=52). The 12-month eCare program integrates with ongoing depression care, links to patients' electronic medical records, and provides clinicians with panel management and decision support. Participants were interviewed at baseline and six, 12, 18, and 24 months after enrollment. Telephone interviewers blind to treatment used a timeline follow-back method to estimate depression severity on a 6-point scale for each of the 105 study weeks (including the baseline). Differences between groups in weekly severity over two years were examined by generalized estimating equations. RESULTS Participants in eCare experienced more reduction in depressive symptoms (estimate=-.74 on the 6-point scale over two years; 95% confidence interval [CI]=-1.38 to -.09, p=.025) and were less often depressed (-.24 over two years; CI=-.46 to -.03, p=.026). At 24 months, 43% of eCare and 30% of usual-care participants were depression free; the number needed to treat to attain one additional depression-free participant was 8. eCare participants had other favorable outcomes: improved general mental health (p=.002), greater satisfaction with specialty care (p=.003) and with learning new coping skills (p<.001), and more confidence in managing depression (p=.006). CONCLUSIONS Internet-delivered care management can help improve outcomes of patients treated for recurrent or chronic depression.

Relationships among depression, chronic pain, chronic disabling pain, and medical costs.

OBJECTIVE: Although evidence suggests that patients with depression use more medical services than those without depression, few studies have examined whether specific subgroups of patients with depression have higher utilization than others. The study compared costs for general medical care with and without psychiatric care for patients with major depression and disabling chronic pain (reference group) with costs for five other groups: those with depression and nondisabling chronic pain, those with major depressive disorder alone, those with no depression who had disabling chronic pain, those with depression who had chronic pain that was not disabling, and those who had neither pain nor depression. Costs for the group with major depressive disorder alone were compared to costs for the three groups without depression. METHODS: A questionnaire assessing major depressive disorder, chronic pain, and pain-related disability was mailed to a random sample of Kaiser Permanente patients who visited a primary care clinic. A total of 5,808 patients responded (54% participation rate). Costs for a two-year period were obtained from Kaiser Permanente's Cost Management Information System. Analyses were adjusted for presence of any of four major chronic medical illnesses. RESULTS: Total costs for patients in the reference group were significantly higher than costs for the other five subgroups. Regression analyses indicated that continuous measures of severity of pain and severity of depression were associated with increased costs, but no statistically significant interaction of depression and pain on total cost was observed. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with major depressive disorder and comorbid disabling chronic pain had higher medical service costs than other groups of patients with and without depression. However, findings suggest that the increases in cost from having both pain and depression are additive and not multiplicative.