Depression Diagnoses Show Greatest Racial Disparity Among Lowest-Income Adults

Mental health disorders continue to increase and are the leading cause of disability among adults living in the United States. While there are well documented racial disparities among many physical health conditions, the association between race, ethnicity and depression is complicated and not well understood. Utilizing data obtained from the 2022 version of the Behavioral Risk Factors Surveillance System (BRFSS) survey, we examined the relation between the diagnosis of depression and race and ethnicity with a particular focus on how income levels play a role in such disparities.

Data obtained from the 2022 version of the Behavioral Risk Factors Surveillance System (BRFSS) survey were used to conduct a logistic regression analysis estimating the likelihood of a person reporting that they had been diagnosed with depression (n = 224,392) weighted to maximize the representativeness of the sample to the general population of working-age American adults (ages 18-64 years).

The likelihood of having been diagnosed with depression was higher with younger respondents and female respondents. Overall, non-Hispanic White respondents were more likely to report having depression than other racial and ethnic groups. However, this difference was most pronounced among the lowest-income respondents (income < $25 k/year).

These findings indicate that while Non-Hispanic White respondents are more likely to report a depression diagnosis overall, this trend reverses or narrows significantly among individuals with the lowest income levels. Thus, targeted efforts are needed to improve the detection and treatment of depression in these underserved groups.