ArticleJournal of epidemiology and community health2014
Income inequality among American states and the incidence of major depression.
Article in Journal of epidemiology and community health, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 43 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
43 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 104 citations in OpenAlex.
- Gender differences in the effects of economic inequality on mental conditions: a multivariate meta-analysis of Gini index and relative income position in high-income OECD countries.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Pooled it
- Utilising quantitative methods to study the intersectionality of multiple social disadvantages in women with common mental disorders: a systematic review.International journal for equity in health · 2023Pooled it
- The association between income inequality and adult mental health at the subnational level-a systematic review.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2022Pooled it
- Disentangling deprivation: Differential associations of the area deprivation index- 3 factors with clinical, cognitive, and mood outcomes in epilepsy.Epilepsy & behavior : E&B · 2026Article
- Exploring mental health disparities in Mozambique: Depression and anxiety symptoms among reproductive-aged women using data from Mozambique Demographic and Health Survey 2022-23.Global epidemiology · 2025Article
- Relative Poverty and Mental Illness in Adults, Children, and Adolescents in Industrialized Countries.Deutsches Arzteblatt international · 2025Review
- Prevalence, Determinants and Wealth-Related Inequality of Anxiety and Depression Symptoms Among Reproductive-Aged Women (15-49 Years) in Nepal: An Analysis of Nationally Representative Nepal Demographic and Health Survey Data 2022.Depression and anxiety · 2025Article
- Financial assets and mental health over time.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Psychological Distress in Low-Income and Economically Marginalized Populations in India: Protective and Risk Factors.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- The buffering effect of social capital for daily mental stress in an unequal society: a lesson from Seoul.International journal for equity in health · 2023Article
- Income and rural-urban status moderate the association between income inequality and life expectancy in US census tracts.Journal of health, population, and nutrition · 2023Article
- Mental Health, Material Possessions, and Social Capital During COVID-19: A Study of the United States Urban Working-Age Population.Applied research in quality of life · 2023Article
- Article
- Sleepless in inequality: findings from the 2018 behavioral risk factor surveillance system, a cross-sectional study.BMC public health · 2022Article
- Neighbourhood Income Inequality and General Psychopathology at 3-Years of Age.Journal of the Canadian Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry = Journal de l'Academie canadienne de psychiatrie de l'enfant et de l'adolescent · 2022Article
- How Income and Income Inequality Drive Depressive Symptoms in U.S. Adults, Does Sex Matter: 2005-2016.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Province- and Individual-Level Influential Factors of Depression: Multilevel Cross-Provinces Comparison in China.Frontiers in public health · 2022Article
- Inequality in physical activity, global trends by income inequality and gender in adults.The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity · 2020Article
- Characteristics of Psychosocial Factors in Liver Transplantation Candidates with Alcoholic Liver Disease before Transplantation: A Retrospective Study in a Single Center in Taiwan.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Article
- State-Level Income Inequality and County-Level Social Capital in Relation to Individual-Level Depression in Middle-Aged Adults: A Lagged Multilevel Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundAlthough cross-sectional and ecological studies have shown that higher area-level income inequality is related to increased risk for depression, few longitudinal studies have been conducted. This investigation examines the relationship between state-level income inequality and major depression among adults participating in a population-based, representative longitudinal study.
methodsWe used data from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (n=34 653). Respondents completed structured diagnostic interviews at baseline (2001-2002) and follow-up (2004-2005). Weighted multilevel modelling was used to determine if U.S. state-level income inequality (measured by the Gini coefficient) was a significant predictor of depression at baseline and at follow-up, while controlling for individual-level and state-level covariates. We also repeated the longitudinal analyses, excluding those who had a history of depression or at baseline, in order to test whether income inequality was related to incident depression.
resultsState-level inequality was associated with increased incidence of depression among women but not men. In comparison to women residing in states belonging to the lowest quintile of income inequality, women were at increased risk for depression in the second (OR=1.18, 95% CI 0.86 to 1.62), third (OR=1.22, 95% CI 0.91 to 1.62), fourth (OR=1.37, 95% CI 1.03 to 1.82) and fifth (OR=1.50, 95% CI 1.14 to 1.96) quintiles at follow-up (p<0.05 for the linear trend).
conclusionsLiving in a state with higher income inequality increases the risk for the development of depression among women.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.