Discrimination and Depression among Urban Hispanics with Poorly Controlled Diabetes

We had three objectives for our study: 1) to describe the prevalence and burden of experiences of discrimination among Hispanics with poorly controlled diabetes; 2) to evaluate associations among discrimination experiences and their burden with comorbid depression among Hispanics with poorly controlled diabetes; and 3) to evaluate whether discrimination encountered in the health care context itself was associated with comorbid depression for Hispanic adults with diabetes.

We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of baseline data of a randomized controlled trial (RCT).

We collected data in the context of an RCT in a clinical setting in New York City.

Our sample comprised 221 urban-dwelling Hispanics, largely of Caribbean origin.

The main outcome measure was major depression, measured by the Euro-D (score > 3).

Of 221 participants, 58.8% reported at least one experience of everyday discrimination, and 42.5% reported at least one major experience of discrimination. Depression was associated significantly with counts of experiences of major discrimination (OR = 1.46, 95% CI = 1.09 - 1.94, P = .01), aggregate counts of everyday and major discrimination (OR = 1.13, 95% CI = 1.02 - 1.26, P = .02), and the experience of discrimination in getting care for physical health (OR = 6.30, 95% CI= 1.10-36.03).

Discrimination may pose a barrier to getting health care and may be associated with depression among Hispanics with diabetes. Clinicians treating Caribbean-born Hispanics should be aware that disadvantage and discrimination likely complicate a presentation of diabetes.