Urbanicity of residence and depression among adults 50 years and older in Ghana and South Africa: an analysis of the WHO Study on Global AGEing and Adult Health (SAGE)

ABSTRACT

Objectives: As the primary cause of disability worldwide, depression is a significant contributor to global morbidity and mortality and often disproportionately affects older adults. Several studies have demonstrated a link between urban residence and depression, but few studies have examined this association among older adult populations, and even fewer have studied it within an African context. Given that African societies are aging and urbanizing at rapid rates, this study aimed to assess the relationship between urbanicity and depression within older adult populations in two African countries.

Method: Data were drawn from the Ghana and South Africa samples of the World Health Organization Study on Global AGEing and Adult Health (SAGE) wave 1 (2007–2008). Depression over the past 12 months was measured using self-reported treatment and depressive symptoms based on ICD-10 criteria in 4209 Ghanaian and 3148 South African adults aged 50 years and older residing in their current location for over one year.

Results: The 12-month prevalence of depression was 7.5% and 4.0% in Ghana and South Africa, respectively; 41.1% and 65.6%, respectively, lived in urban areas. Comparing urban to rural residents, the adjusted odds ratio (OR) for depression in multivariable analysis was 1.13 (95% CI: 0.71–1.79) in South Africa and 0.85 (95% CI: 0.55–1.31) in Ghana.

Conclusion: Results do not support a significant urban-rural difference in 12-month depression among Ghanaian or South African SAGE participants. Mental health resources in rural areas should therefore be enhanced in these countries for more equitable distributions between the two settings given similar need.

KEYWORDS:

• Urbanization
• mental health
• Africa

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Institute on Aging of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number F31AG052288. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.