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Community-Level Social Support Infrastructure Linked with Reduced MDD Incidence
Adults from a high-risk neighborhoods experienced incident major depressive disorder (MDD) at nearly half the rate when their communities offered social support programs, according to a study published in JAMA Psychiatry.
“Because local social support infrastructure may reduce incidence of adult-onset MDD in settings of high exposure to potentially traumatic experiences, such infrastructure should be prioritized for population-level interventions,” researchers advised.
The study looked at the potential effect of neighborhood social infrastructure on incident MDD in a cohort of 1917 young adults living in the western Chitwan valley of Nepal. The high-poverty community experienced armed conflict in a civil war between 1998 and 2006.
Related: Association of Youth Trauma and MDD Mediated by Social Support, Brain Function
Between 2015 and 2016, 8.1% of participants in the study experienced MDD. Those who lived in neighborhoods with an active Small Farmers Development Program, a social capital and cohesion group offered in 21 of 149 neighborhoods, had a 0.55 odds ratio of experiencing MDD compared with participants whose neighborhoods lacked a Small Farmers Development Program group, according to the study.
The incidence of MDD among adults in neighborhoods with a Small Farmers Development Program group was 19 of 256, or 7.4%, researchers reported. In a matched sample without a Small Farmers Development Program group, MDD incidence was 33 of 256, or 12.9%.
“Living in a neighborhood with community-level social support infrastructure was associated with reduced subsequent rates of adult-onset MDD, even in this high-risk population,” researchers concluded. “Investments in such infrastructure may reduce population-level MDD, supporting clinical focus on potentially unpreventable cases.”
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