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Depressive Mood Among Within-Country Migrants in Periurban Shantytowns of Lima, Peru

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Abstract

In low- and middle-income countries, migration to urban settings has reshaped the sprawl and socio demographic profiles of major cities. Depressive episodes make up a large portion of the burden of disease worldwide and are related to socio-demographic disruptions. As a result of terrorism, political upheaval, followed by economic development, Peru has undergone major demographic transitions over the previous three decades including large migrations within the country. We aimed to determine the prevalence of current depressive mood and its relationship with parameters of internal migration, i.e. region of origin, age at migration, and years since migration. A community-wide census was carried out between January and June 2010 within a shantytown immigrant receiving community in Lima, Peru. One male or female adult per household completed a survey. Depressive mood was assessed with a 2-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CESD) scale. Migration-related variables included place of birth, duration of residence in Lima, and age at migration. Prevalence ratios (PR) and 95 % confidence intervals (95 % CI) were calculated. A total of 8,551 out of 9,561 participants, response rate 89 %, participated in the census. Of these, 8,091 records were analyzed: 71.8 % were women [average age 39.4 (SD 13.9 years)] and 59.3 % were immigrants. The overall prevalence of individuals with current depressive mood was 17.1 % (95 % CI 16.2–17.9 %) and varied significantly by all socio-demographic and migration variables assessed. On unadjusted analyses, immigrants to Lima had higher prevalence of depressive mood if they originated in other costal or Andean areas, had lived in Lima for more than 20 years, or were <30 years of age when they out-migrated. When controlling for age, gender and socio-demographic variables the association was no longer significant, the only exception being a 20 % lower prevalence of current depressive mood among those who out-migrated aged ≥30 years old (PR = 0.79; 95 % CI 0.63–0.98). In conclusion, these results suggest that current depressive mood is very prevalent in this immigrant receiving community. Among all proxies for internal migration explored, in fully adjusted models, there was evidence of an association between age at migration (≥30 years old) and a lower probability of current depressive mood compared to non-migrants.

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Acknowledgments

Our special gratitude to various colleagues at Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia and A.B. PRISMA in Lima, Peru, who contributed to different parts of this study. Our special recognition to our personnel in Pampas de San Juan de Miraflores and also to Lilia Cabrera, who coordinated the fieldwork activities in this study. This project has been funded in whole with Federal funds from the United States National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, under Contract No. HHSN268200900033C. William Checkley was supported by a Pathway to Independence Award (R00HL096955) from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.

Conflict of interest

None declared.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CRONICAS Center of Excellence in Chronic Diseases, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Av. Armendáriz 497, Miraflores, Lima 12, Peru

    Paulo Ruiz-Grosso, Antonio Bernabe-Ortiz, Francisco Diez-Canseco, Robert H. Gilman, William Checkley & J. Jaime Miranda

  2. Epidemiology Unit, School of Public Health and Administration, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Lima, Peru

    Antonio Bernabe-Ortiz

  3. Department of International Health, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Robert H. Gilman & William Checkley

  4. Área de Investigación y Desarrollo, Asociación Benéfica PRISMA, Lima, Peru

    Robert H. Gilman

  5. Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care, School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA

    William Checkley

  6. Perelman School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Ian M. Bennett

  7. Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Lima, Peru

    J. Jaime Miranda

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  1. Paulo Ruiz-Grosso
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  2. Antonio Bernabe-Ortiz
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  3. Francisco Diez-Canseco
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  4. Robert H. Gilman
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  5. William Checkley
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  6. Ian M. Bennett
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CRONICAS Cohort Study Group

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Correspondence to J. Jaime Miranda.

Additional information

Ian M. Bennett and J. Jaime Miranda are joint senior authors.

Members of the CRONICAS Cohort Study Group listed in alphabetic order: Cardiovascular Disease: Antonio Bernabé-Ortiz, Juan P. Casas, George Davey Smith, Shah Ebrahim, Raúl Gamboa (RIP), Héctor H. García, Robert H. Gilman, Luis Huicho, Germán Málaga, J. Jaime Miranda, Víctor M. Montori, Liam Smeeth; Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: William Checkley, Gregory B. Diette, Robert H. Gilman, Luis Huicho, Fabiola León-Velarde, María Rivera-Ch, Robert A. Wise; Training & Capacity Building: William Checkley, Héctor H. García, Robert H. Gilman, J. Jaime Miranda, Katherine Sacksteder.

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Ruiz-Grosso, P., Bernabe-Ortiz, A., Diez-Canseco, F. et al. Depressive Mood Among Within-Country Migrants in Periurban Shantytowns of Lima, Peru. J Immigrant Minority Health 17, 1635–1642 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-014-0121-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-014-0121-9

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