Depressive symptoms and signs and use of health services in women from Chiloé Island

Abstract

The objective of this paper is that of contributing to the awareness of what happens in our country with respect to the relation between depression and the use of health services, by means of describing the self-appraisal of the state of mental health and the use of general and specialized health services, in two samples of adult women from Chiloé island.

It involves two transversal studies, the samples of which were extracted from the same area of Chiloé almost simultaneously. The populational sample is of a random type and consists of 153 women, and the APS consultant sample is of an accidental type and consists of 123 women. A survey was applied to value the existence of depressive symptoms and signs, a self-appraisal of the state of mental health, and the use of different health services.

Slightly less than half the women of both samples considered being "depressed" or "anxious", and in contrast with a standardized scale, very few false negatives could be appraised, as well as many false positives. A low proportion of those who presented depressive symptoms had received specialized attention during the year previous to the interview. A high proportion of the women with depressive symptoms has been in contact with health services, and this number is similar to that of women without depressive symptoms (except for emergency services). Those with depressive disorders present a larger amount of visits to outpatient or other health services, which is more than double that observed in women who do not have depressive symptoms and signs.

Self-appraisal of the state of mental health must be dealt with carefully for the identification of cases with depressive signs and symptoms in clinical practice and operative research. The high proportion of women with depressive symptoms and signs who resort to health services, determine an opportunity for the development of detection and treatment strategies. This fact would allow for the improvement of the low percentage of women receiving some treatment for their depressive symptoms. Finally, women with depressive symptoms generate a greater demand for medical office, outpatient or emergency service visits, a fact which signifies higher costs.