Delays in depression treatment among Korean population. (8th August 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Ki, Myung; Paik, Jong‐Woo; Choi, Kyeong‐Sook; Ryu, Seung‐Ho; Han, Changsu; Lee, Kangjoon; Ham, Byung Joo; Chang, Hun Soo; Won, Eun‐Soo; Jun, Tae‐Youn; Lee, Min‐Soo
• Is Part Of: Asia-Pacific psychiatry. Volume 6:Number 4(2014:Dec.)
• Page Start: 414
• Page End: 424
• Publication Date: 2014-08-08
• Subjects: Psychiatry -- Pacific Area -- Periodicals; 616.890095
• DOI: 10.1111/appy.12140
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1758-5864

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main"> <title>Abstract</title> <sec id="appy12140-sec-0001" sec-type="section"> <title>Introduction</title> <p>Delays in mental health service utilization for patients with depression have been observed globally. To elucidate some aspects of delays, age‐related associations with a series of variables representing different stages of mental health service use were studied concurrently.</p> </sec> <sec id="appy12140-sec-0002" sec-type="section"> <title>Methods</title> <p>A total of 1, 433 patients with depression participated in a nationwide Korean Depressive Patient Survey through the collaboration of 70 psychiatric clinics and hospitals. Using logistic and Poisson regression, we investigated whether there is variation in the associations by age.</p> </sec> <sec id="appy12140-sec-0003" sec-type="section"> <title>Results</title> <p>Patients with depression in South Korea spent 3.4 years on average before starting a first depression treatment after the onset of depression, and 58% of them entered depression treatment in the first year of onset. Early onset appeared to lower the chance of "early depression treatment": e.g., adjusted odds ratio (OR)s for onset age of 40–54, 25–39 and <25 versus ≥55 were 0.65 (95% CI = 0.44, 0.94), 0.36 (95% CI = 0.16, 0.81) and 0.18 (95% CI = 0.06, 0.48), respectively. In contrast, favorable associations of early onset with "self‐recognition as depression" and "number of nonpsychiatric clinics attended" before visiting psychiatrist were found. Younger cohorts were associated with more positive attitudes toward all mental health utilization measures.</p> </sec> <sec id="appy12140-sec-0004" sec-type="section"> <title>Discussion</title> <p>Delays in depression treatment are lengthy in South Korea. Those with early onset are more likely to have delayed depression treatment but are more willing to seek help from a psychiatrist once they sought for the treatment.</p> </sec> </abstract>