Abstract
Previous studies suggest that the occurrence of depression depends on social conditions in the area of residence. The aim of this study was to determine whether the prevalence of depressive symptoms differs between six Czech towns participating in the Czech branch of the Health, Alcohol and Psychosocial Factors in Eastern Europe (HAPIEE) study.
Depressive symptomatology was measured using the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression (CES-D) scale. The associations between individual characteristics, town of residence and depressive symptoms were analyzed using binary logistic regression.
The study included 8,267 individuals (mean age 58, 53 % women). The highest prevalence of depressive symptoms was in Karviná-Havířov (20,6 %) and the lowest in Hradec Králové (17,8 %).
The differences between towns were not statistically significant and they were further explained by individual sociodemographic and health-related characteristics. These results suggest that the differences in depressive symptoms between Czech towns are small and probably not clinically relevant.
Preventative interventions for decreasing the burden of risk factors for depression should target individual social, demographic and health-related factors.