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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Krishna Mohan V. T. Palipudi, PhD, Minnesota Population Center, University of Minnesota, 50 Willey Hall, 225 19th Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN 55455, 612-626-3933, palipudi@pop.umn.edu and Ajay B. Pawar, MD, Department of Community Medicine, SMIMER, Opp Bombay Market, Umarwada, Surat, 395010, India.

The worse mental health status of the migrant population in many countries has increasingly become an issue of concern. The cause for this could be analysed in terms of risk-factors linked with events and circumstances before, under and after the migration process. The paper deals the very issue and analyse observed differences in self-reported psychiatric disorders such as depression and schizophrenia between immigrants and non-migrants in the urban slum population in southern Gujarat in India in terms of post migration factors such as region of origin, socioeconomic status, level of social support, relation to labour market, discrimination, acculturation, tobacco or alcohol misuse, marital status and level of education, physical activity and somatic self-reported suboptimal health behaviour. This was a community-based study. Data were collected from 518 multifarious slum households who were randomly selected from seven administrative zones of Surat city with a total population of 2.5 millions. We used conditional logistic regression analyses and evaluated the results by likelihood ratio tests and presented them as odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals.

The study reports high incidence rates of depression (32.8%) and schizophrenia (30%). The migrant populations are more likely to report depression (OR=1.58, 95% CI 1.21–2.05) or schizophrenia (OR 1.89, 95% CI 1.36 - 2.63) than the non migrant population living in urban slums of Surat city in India. Positive post-migration influences such as adequate social support, high socioeconomic status, physical activity and increased suboptimal health care protected some against depression and schizophrenia. Inequality between migrants and non-migrants in psychiatric disorder status seems to be an area deserving more attention in public health, both in terms of need for care and in terms of preventive measures. An important part of worse mental health among migrants seems to be attributable to circumstances in their new place of residence.

Learning Objectives:

• Will be able understand the psychiatric disorders and migration process
• Develop skills pertaining to epidemiological studies and community based assesment of certain public health issues
• Discuss the extention of the project in other major cities in India

Keywords: Psychiatric Epidemiology, Migrant Health

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Not Answered