Half the Canadians with Depression Don’t Go to the Doctor

A study entitled POWER (the project for an Ontario Women’s Health Evidence-Based Report) gives a comprehensive overview of the province’s women’s health in relation to gender, income, education, ethnicity, and geography.  (Ethnicity is relevant because 27% of Ontario’s population is foreign-born.) The POWER chapter on depression is now available online, and contains some surprising information.

Data were drawn from routinely collected administrative health care databases (such as those which track hospitalizations and visits to the doctor), population health surveys, vital statistics, data sets and disease registry data.

Key findings are the following:

• Fewer than 50% of the men and women with depression visited a doctor for care of their condition
• A third of those discharged from hospital for severe depression did not see a doctor for a follow-up visit within 30 days,
• But 17% visited a hospital emergency room within that 30 days, and about 8% were re-admitted
• Many older adults who started on antidepressant therapy did not receive the recommended number of follow up visits for management (i.e. 3 or more visits within 12 weeks of starting medication).

The nature of the study was to concentrate somewhat on gender differences.  Nevertheless, the authors state the results indicate “the need to re-evaluate care for depression in Ontario along several fronts and at several levels.”  In particular, a collaborative care model is recommended (a team of health professionals, including mental health professionals and primary care providers). 

I wonder how this sort of study would report out in the USA, especially as some of us may consider Canada as having an enviable healthcare system.