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Ethnic and migrational impact on the clinical manifestation of depression

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Abstract

Purpose

Depressive disorders are still underdiagnosed. Ethnic and cultural factors may influence the way depression is presented and therefore contribute to problems in assessing these disorders in different ethnic populations appropriately. In this investigation, the impact of both ethnicity and migration on the manifestation of depression was studied.

Methods

Three groups of depressed female patients (n = 136) were included in this investigation on the variation in depressive symptomatology by ethnic groups. Group 1 consisted of Austrian patients living in Austria, group 2 were Turkish patients who had migrated to Austria and group 3 were Turkish patients living in Turkey. Participants were rated using the Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS), the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), the Bradford Somatic Inventory (BSI) and an additional list of physical symptoms.

Results

Both Turkish groups had significantly higher BSI scores and more somatic symptom severity. Migrated Turkish patients scored significantly higher in the items headache, backache and dry mouth than Turkish patients in Turkey. In addition, there were between-group differences in non-physical symptoms.

Conclusions

Depressive symptomatology varies between ethnic groups. These differences are mainly due to ethnicity as such but migration may play an additional role. It is essential for physicians to be aware of atypical presentation forms of depression in minority groups.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of General Psychiatry, Medical University Innsbruck, Anichstr. 35, 6020, Innsbruck, Austria

    Eberhard A. Deisenhammer, Müberra Çoban-Başaran, Regina Prunnlechner, Georg Kemmler & Hartmann Hinterhuber

  2. Department of Psychiatry, Medical Faculty, Dokuz Eylül University, 35340, Balçova, İzmir, Turkey

    Atıl Mantar & Tunç Alkın

Authors
  1. Eberhard A. Deisenhammer
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  2. Müberra Çoban-Başaran
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  3. Atıl Mantar
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Correspondence to Eberhard A. Deisenhammer.

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Deisenhammer, E.A., Çoban-Başaran, M., Mantar, A. et al. Ethnic and migrational impact on the clinical manifestation of depression. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 47, 1121–1129 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-011-0417-1

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