Depressive symptoms among Colorado farmers

Details

• Personal Author:
  Criswell L ; Garrett C ; Gillan T ; Leff M ; Stallones L
• Description:
  A study of depressive symptoms among Colorado farmers was conducted. The study group consisted of 872 persons, 472 males, mean age 47.5 years, living on 475 farms in the six crop reporting districts in Colorado. The subjects were interviewed by questionnaire to obtain information on demographic characteristics, farm characteristics, general health, behavioral risk factors, safety knowledge, perceived social support, and pesticide exposures and to rate mental health. Mental health was assessed using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CESD) scale. The data were analyzed by logistic regression techniques utilizing depression symptoms as the dependent variable, and gender, age, social support, negative life events, involvement in farm work, perceived health status, alcohol use, and race as independent variables. The overall prevalence of depression symptoms in the study group was 9.3%. By gender, the prevalence of depression symptoms was 7.9% in males and 11.1% in females. The CESD scores in the total study population varied from 0 to 52, mean 6.1. Younger age, perceived poor health, being unmarried, and decreases in income were significantly associated with a higher prevalence of depression symptoms. Being involved in farm work was associated with a lower incidence of depression symptoms. The authors conclude that the overall prevalence of depression symptoms in this farming population is lower than in the general US population. The specific factors associated with depression in this population generally agree with those identified in other population based studies. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Age Factors Agriculture Epidemiology Farmers Insecticides Mental Disorders Mental Health Nervous System Occupational Health Risk Assessment Risk Factors Safety Sex Characteristics Surveys And Questionnaires

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• Keywords:
  Age-factors Agricultural-workers Author Keywords: Mental Health Depressive Symptoms Mental-health NIOSH-Cooperative-Agreement Pesticides Psychological-disorders Questionnaires Risk-factors Sex-factors

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• ISSN:
  1074-7583
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Colorado ; OSHA Region 8
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  37-43
• Volume:
  1
• Issue:
  1
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00229345
• Citation:
  J Agric Saf Health 1995 Feb; 1(1):37-43
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1995
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  Journal of Agricultural Safety and Health
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:e0333e153fdd93b23fa09208fac75f7f28d2410347e7735b3d80468a2b059c86d6897a27fb4edc7e154cbd0daafbfc2a3734faf82cb5e3942d2e18b80224efe6
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/204448/cdc_204448_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 50.79 KB ]