Refugee status is associated with double the odds of psychological distress in mid-to-late life: Findings from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging.

Refugee status is associated with double the odds of psychological distress in mid-to-late life: Findings from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging. Int J Soc Psychiatry. 2020 Nov 11;:20764020971003 Authors: Tong H, Lung Y, Lin SL, Kobayashi KM, Davison KM, Agbeyaka S, Fuller-Thomson E Abstract Psychological distress is associated with a range of negative outcomes including lower quality of life and an increased risk of premature all-cause mortality. The prevalence of, and factors associated with, psychological distress among middle-aged and older Canadians are understudied. Using the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA) baseline data, this study examined factors associated with psychological distress among adults between 45 and 85 years, including refugee status and a wide range of sociodemographic, health-related and social support characteristics. Psychological distress was measured by Kessler's Psychological Distress Scale-K10 scores. Bivariate and multivariable binary logistic regression analyses were conducted. The prevalence of psychological distress was significantly higher among the 244 refugees (23.8%), compared to 23,149 Canadian-born Canadians (12.8%) and 4,765 non-refugee immigrants (12.6%), despite the fact that the average time the refugees had lived in Canada was more than four decades. The results of the binary logistic regression analysis indicated refugees had twice the age-sex adjusted odds of psycholog...
Source: The International Journal of Social Psychiatry - Category: Psychiatry Authors: Tags: Int J Soc Psychiatry Source Type: research