Abstract
Introduction: In 2020, over 50 million adults in the US had a diagnosed mental illness. While the overall burden of illness among mental health disorders is great, studies continue to show increased mental health needs among US adults. Frequency of poor mental health days (FPMHD) has shown to be related to individual factors such as SES, race, and rural versus urban environments. Additionally, social determinants of health (SDOH) have been found to directly influence factors related to premature death. Assessing the disparities in mental health outcomes regionally and among sociodemographic variables may highlight predictors of mental health outcomes. Therefore, our objective was to examine the relationship between frequent (14+) poor mental health days and SDOH, and which states had the highest rates of FPMHD.
Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of the 2017 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) to extract data regarding poor mental health days and the SDOH module. We extracted sociodemographic variables to use as controls and constructed bivariate and multivariable logistic regression models to determine associations, via odds ratios, between SDOH and FPMHD. We visualized the overall state-levels of FPMHD via a heatmap.
Results: We found statistically significant associations between all SDOH variables in both the binary and multivariable regression models. The average number of poor mental health days per month was the highest in West Virginia (14.11 days), Oklahoma (12.94 days), and Mississippi (12.87 days). However, individuals in states that reported experiencing zero poor mental health days were the lowest in Oregon (58.7%), Utah (59.65%), and Arkansas (59.84%).
Conclusion: Our study found that frequency of poor mental health days was significantly associated with all domains of SDOH. Providing expanded mental health care resources through the use of evidence-based programs could improve average numbers of poor mental health days among US adults. Additionally, further investigation to identify the specific variables of each SDOH domain and their association with FPMHD is warranted to improve the efficacy and reach of available mental health resources.
Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of the 2017 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) to extract data regarding poor mental health days and the SDOH module. We extracted sociodemographic variables to use as controls and constructed bivariate and multivariable logistic regression models to determine associations, via odds ratios, between SDOH and FPMHD. We visualized the overall state-levels of FPMHD via a heatmap.
Results: We found statistically significant associations between all SDOH variables in both the binary and multivariable regression models. The average number of poor mental health days per month was the highest in West Virginia (14.11 days), Oklahoma (12.94 days), and Mississippi (12.87 days). However, individuals in states that reported experiencing zero poor mental health days were the lowest in Oregon (58.7%), Utah (59.65%), and Arkansas (59.84%).
Conclusion: Our study found that frequency of poor mental health days was significantly associated with all domains of SDOH. Providing expanded mental health care resources through the use of evidence-based programs could improve average numbers of poor mental health days among US adults. Additionally, further investigation to identify the specific variables of each SDOH domain and their association with FPMHD is warranted to improve the efficacy and reach of available mental health resources.
| Original language | American English |
|---|---|
| Pages | 41 |
| State | Published - 14 Feb 2023 |
| Event | Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences Research Week 2023 - Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences, 1111 W. 17th street, Tulsa, United States Duration: 13 Feb 2023 → 17 Feb 2023 https://medicine.okstate.edu/events/index.html?trumbaEmbed=view%3Devent%26eventid%3D160681489 |
Conference
| Conference | Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences Research Week 2023 |
|---|---|
| Country/Territory | United States |
| City | Tulsa |
| Period | 13/02/23 → 17/02/23 |
| Internet address |
Keywords
- mental health
- social determinants of health
- frequency of poor mental health days
- BRFSS