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Depression treatment disparities among older minority home healthcare patients
Yolonda R Pickett1, Rebecca L Greenberg2, Kisha N Bazelais2
1Department of Psychiatry, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY; Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, NY.
Objective:
Determine the racial/ethnic effect on depression treatment among home healthcare patients.
Design:
Cross-sectional analyses of administrative data.
Setting:
A large home healthcare agency in Bronx, NY.
Participants:
Patients 65 years and older admitted to homecare in 2010 (N = 3,744).
Measurements:
Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ)-2 depression screen. Other data, such as diagnosis, medications, and demographics, were collected from the patient electronic medical record.
Results:
6.52% of the sample had a depression diagnosis, 11.11% screened positive for depression (+PHQ-2), and 13.39% were prescribed antidepressants. The odds of receiving an antidepressant among those who screened positive for depression were 0.42 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.22-0.79) for African Americans and 0.49 (95% CI: 0.26-0.93) for Hispanics compared with Caucasians.
Conclusions:
These findings suggest that disparities continue to exist in depression treatment for older minority home healthcare patients compared with older Caucasians.
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