Prevalence of Depression among Migrants: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Shea Q. Foo, Wilson W. Tam, Cyrus S. Ho, Bach X. Tran, Long H. Nguyen, Roger S. McIntyre and Roger C. Ho
Additional contact information
Shea Q. Foo: Department of Psychological Medicine, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore 119228, Singapore
Wilson W. Tam: Alice Lee Centre for Nursing Studies, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore 119077, Singapore
Cyrus S. Ho: Department of Psychological Medicine, National University Health System, Singapore 119228, Singapore
Bach X. Tran: Institute for Preventive Medicine and Public Health, Hanoi Medical University, Hanoi 100000, Vietnam
Long H. Nguyen: Institute for Global Health Innovations, Duy Tan University, Da Nang 550000, Vietnam
Roger S. McIntyre: Mood Disorders Psychopharmacology Unit, University Health Network, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5T 1R8, Canada
Roger C. Ho: Department of Psychological Medicine, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore 119228, Singapore

IJERPH, 2018, vol. 15, issue 9, 1-14

Abstract: As the number of migrants worldwide increases, it is worthwhile to examine the extent to which depression has affected this group of often vulnerable individuals. The purpose of this systematic review and meta-analysis is to examine the aggregate prevalence of depression among international migrants and to explore the variations in prevalence with demographic and educational factors. A search was conducted on the online databases PubMed and ScienceDirect whole using the terms “depression”, “depressive disorder”, “immigration”, “immigrant”, “migration”, and “migrant”. A total of 25 studies met our inclusion criteria. A random-effects model meta-analysis calculated an aggregate prevalence of 15.6% among migrants. Heterogeneity was identified by meta-regression and subgroup analyses, and the level of educational attainment, employment status, and length of residency spent in country of migration were found to be significant moderators contributing to depression prevalence. In conclusion, newly arrived migrants appear to be susceptible to developing depression and it is imperative that more in the form of preventive strategies and increased assistance be incorporated to ensure their psychological wellbeing and improve their mental health outcomes. Further research should be conducted to better understand the risk of psychiatric disorders among members of this subpopulation.

Keywords: depression; migrant; migration (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/9/1986/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/9/1986/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:15:y:2018:i:9:p:1986-:d:169298

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().