Does conurbation affect the risk of poor mental health? A population based record linkage study

Abstract Background Opposing risks have been identified between different prosocial activities, with volunteering having been linked to better mental health while caregiving has been associated with higher prevalence and incidence of depression. This study explored suicide risk of people engaged in prosocial activities of caregiving and/or volunteering. Methods A Census-based record linkage study of 1,018,000 people aged 25–74 years (130,816 caregivers; 110,467 volunteers; and 42,099 engaged in both) was undertaken. Caregiving (light: 1–19; intense: ≥20 h/week), volunteering and mental health status were derived from 2011 Census records. Suicide risk (45 months follow-up) was assessed using Cox models adjusted for baseline mental health. Results Intense caregiving was associated with worse mental health (ORadj = 1.15: 95%CI = 1.12, 1.18) and volunteering with better mental health (OR = 0.87: 95%CI = 0.84, 0.89). For those engaged in both activities, likelihood of poor mental health was determined by caregiving level. There were 528 suicides during follow-up, with those engaged in both activities having the lowest risk of suicide (HR = 0.34: 95%CI = 0.14, 0.84). Engaging in either volunteering or caregiving was associated with lower suicide risk for those with good mental health at baseline (HR = 0.66: 95%CI = 0.49, 0.88) but not for their peers with baseline poor mental health (HR = 1.02: 95%CI = 0.69, 1.51). Conclusions Although an increased risk of poor mental health was identified amongst caregivers, there was no evidence of an increased risk of suicide.

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Self-reported mental health of children known to child protection services: an Australian population-based record linkage study

European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry ◽

10.1007/s00787-021-01841-3 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Kirstie O’Hare ◽

Aniqa Hussain ◽

Kristin R. Laurens ◽

Gabrielle Hindmarsh ◽

Vaughan J. Carr ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Child Protection ◽

Record Linkage ◽

Population Based ◽

Linkage Study ◽

Australian Population ◽

Child Protection Services

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The Unmet Need for Psychotropic Medication within the Migrant Population of Northern Ireland - A Record Linkage Study

International Journal for Population Data Science ◽

10.23889/ijpds.v4i3.1309 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 4 (3) ◽

Author(s):

Kishan Patel

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Northern Ireland ◽

Psychotropic Medication ◽

Record Linkage ◽

Unmet Need ◽

Linkage Study ◽

Poor Mental Health ◽

Migrant Population ◽

Migrant Group ◽

Migrant Groups

BackgroundA large proportion of people with mental ill-health do not receive the care that they require - constituting unmet need. Migrant populations are particularly at risk of not receiving necessary care for a range of reasons including perceptual differences and multiple barriers to health service. Main AimThis record linkage study compares the likelihood of people with poor mental health receiving psychotropic medication between migrant and settled communities and amongst different migrant groups in Northern Ireland. MethodsA cohort of 78,267 people aged 16-64 who reported chronic poor mental health in the 2011 Census records was generated and followed for the next 12 months by linkage to a centralised prescribing dataset to determine rates of treatment. All individual and household attributes were derived from Census forms. Absence of a psychotropic medication prescription from the beginning of 2011 represented unmet need. Logistic regression analyses quantified the relationship between psychotropic medication and migrant status, while accounting for relevant demographic and socio-economic factors. ResultsOverall, 86% of the settled population with chronic poor mental health received at least one psychotropic medication during the study period, compared to 67% of the equivalent population of 1,736 migrants. Although migrants were 61% less likely than the settled community to report poor mental health (OR 0.39 (95% CI 0.37 - 0.41)), those reporting poor mental health were less than one-third as likely as to be on psychotropic medication in fully adjusted models. There also existed considerable variation between individual migrant groups, with uptake of medication lowest amongst the Lithuanian migrant group (OR 0.09 (95% CI 0.05 – 0.14)), and highest amongst German migrant group (OR 1.30 (95% CI 0.87 – 1.94)). ConclusionAlthough this study suggests substantial unmet need for treatment of poor mental health amongst the migrant population of Northern Ireland this may not represent the whole story. Differences between individual migrant groups suggest that other factors may also be at play including differing approaches to treatment, or alternative routes to treatment. The implications of the study will be discussed in the paper.

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Unmet need for mental health medication within the migrant population of Northern Ireland: a record linkage study

Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health ◽

10.1136/jech-2019-212774 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. jech-2019-212774

Author(s):

Kishan Patel ◽

Tania Bosqui ◽

Anne Kouvonen ◽

Michael Donnelly ◽

Ari Väänänen ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Northern Ireland ◽

Psychotropic Medication ◽

Record Linkage ◽

Unmet Need ◽

Linkage Study ◽

Poor Mental Health ◽

Migrant Population ◽

Data Set ◽

Migrant Groups

BackgroundMigrant populations are particularly at risk of not receiving the care for mental ill-health that they require for a range of reasons, including language and other barriers to health service access. This record linkage study compares, for migrant and settled communities, the likelihood that a person in Northern Ireland with poor mental health will receive psychotropic medication.MethodsA cohort of 78 267 people aged 16–64 years (including 1736 migrants) who reported chronic poor mental health in the 2011 Census records was followed for 15 months by linkage to a centralised prescribing data set to determine the rates of pharmacological treatment. Logistic regression analyses quantified the relationship between psychotropic medication uptake and migrant status, while accounting for relevant demographic and socioeconomic factors.ResultsOverall, 67% of the migrants with chronic poor mental health received at least one psychotropic medication during the study period, compared to 86% for the settled population; this equates to an OR of 0.32 (95% CI 0.29 to 0.36) in the fully adjusted models. Adjustment for English proficiency did not significantly alter these models. There was also considerable variation between individual migrant groups.ConclusionAlthough this study suggests substantial unmet need for treatment of poor mental health among the migrant population of Northern Ireland, further qualitative studies are required to better understand how different migrant groups respond to mental ill-health.

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