Prevalence and correlates of depression among Australian women: a systematic literature review, January 1999- January 2010

Abstract

BackgroundLittle is known about the prevalence and correlates of depression among Australian women. This systematic review of depression among women in Australia, the largest identified to date, highlights the prevalence and correlates of depression across the life span.ResultsThe report adhered to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses: The PRISMA Statement (PRISMA). Six health related databases were selected: Medline, PsychInfo, SCOPUS, Cinhal, Informit and Cochrane Systematic Reviews. 1,888 initial articles were found, and 111 articles were considered relevant for review. Prevalence rates of depression among women ranged from 2.6% to 43.9%. Higher rates were reported for younger women, or specific population groups. Most significant correlates included, age, adverse life events, tobacco use, sole motherhood, and previous mental health problems.ConclusionsLimitations include the scope of the investigation’s aims and inclusion criteria, and the failure to identify gender specific data in most studies. Publication bias was likely, given that only papers reported (or translated) in English were included. Despite the breadth of information available, there were noticeable gaps in the literature. Some studies reported on affective disorders, but did not specifically report on depression; it is concluded that each mental illness warrants separate investigation. It was also common for studies to report a total prevalence rate without separating gender. This report recommends that it is vital to separate male and female data. The report concludes that more research is needed among mid-age women, Indigenous women, non-heterosexual women and Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) women.

Gender moderates the relationship between childhood abuse and internalizing and substance use disorders later in life: a cross-sectional analysis

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Prevalence of intimate partner violence and its association with symptoms of depression; a cross-sectional study based on a female population sample in Sweden

“…Furthermore, studies that included psychological abuse as a separate and independent variable have with few exceptions, demonstrated a consistent relationship with depression [6, 15, 31]. Additional factors known to be associated with depressive symptoms are having poor social support [21], younger age [32], being single [21], being unemployed [33] and having witnessed inter-parental IPV [34]. …”

Systematic review to inform prevention and management of chronic disease for Indigenous Australians: overview and priorities

“…All of the included reviews 19–32 met four of the 11 quality criteria in the checklist (1–4 of the criteria in Table ), as the systematic review inclusion criteria required that they be met. We rated three of the included reviews as high quality (11/11) 25,26,30 and one as moderate quality 23 (6/11), see Table .…”

“…We rated three of the included reviews as high quality (11/11) 25,26,30 and one as moderate quality 23 (6/11), see Table . The majority of the included systematic reviews 19–22,24,27–29,31,32 met eight or nine of the 11 quality items (classified as good quality).…”

“…The assessment identified three methodological weaknesses or potential sources of bias in the reviews when considered together. The first was failure to conduct critical appraisal of included studies (5/14) 20,23,24,27,32 or failure to conduct it as per best practice standards (6 /14), 19,20,23,24,27,30 which involves two reviewers working independently, with introduction of a third party in the event of disagreement. The second was narrow coverage of sources in the search, which introduces risk of publication bias.…”