Depression associated with self-rated health: a population-based study in Brazil

Abstract

Objective: to evaluate the association between self-perceived health and depression in Brazilian adults. Method: cross-sectional population-based study, carried out in 2019, in 26 states and the Federal District, involving 81,851 with informants from adult respondents to the National Health Survey. The bivariate and multiple logistic regression model was performed using the Odds Ratio (OD) association measure, and 95% confidence interval (CI) in Stata version 11. Result: the prevalence of depression among adults in Brazil was 9.01%. People with self-perceived poor health were 1.87 times more likely to have depression when compared to those with self-perceived good health (95% CI: 1.69-2.07). Among the risk factors for depression was being a woman, being over 30 years of age, not having a spouse, practicing weekly physical activity of less than 150 minutes, not doing physical effort at work, and watching television for more than two hours. Conclusion: this study presents the factors associated with depression, which makes it possible to implement actions to prevent mental illness. It is recommended to carry out longitudinal studies that provide a causal assessment between the outcome and other exposures.