ArticleJournal of global health2026
Exploring the link between women's empowerment, depression, and anxiety in Bangladesh: evidence from a nationally representative cross-sectional study.
Article in Journal of global health, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Linking Women's Empowerment to Mental Health Symptoms: Population-Based Study.JMIR public health and surveillance · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Women's mental health remains critically under-researched in Bangladesh, despite its close links with gender inequality. In this study, we examined how three domains of women's empowerment - attitudes to violence, social independence, and decision-making - are associated with mental health outcomes among currently married women in Bangladesh. Methods: Using nationally representative data from the 2022 Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey, we analysed 18 900 currently married women. We assessed women's empowerment using the survey-based women's empowerment index, which was categorised as low, medium, or high. Depression and anxiety were measured using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 and the Generalised Anxiety Disorder-7, respectively. We applied multivariable logistic regression models, adjusting for key sociodemographic covariates. Results: Overall, 4.6% women reported depression, and 4.0% reported anxiety. Women with low empowerment in attitude to violence domain had higher odds of depression (adjusted odds ratio (aOR) = 1.48; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.17-1.86) and anxiety (aOR = 1.41; 95% CI = 1.09-1.82), compared to women with high empowerment. In the social independence domain, low empowerment was significantly associated with anxiety (aOR = 1.28; 95% CI = 1.02-1.60) but not with depression. Low empowerment in the decision-making domain was not associated with depressive or anxiety symptoms; however, it was associated with lower odds of severe depressive (aOR = 0.48; 95% CI = 0.33-0.70) and anxiety symptoms (aOR = 0.44; 95% CI = 0.28-0.71) when the outcome was disaggregated by severity. Conclusions: Women's empowerment is associated with mental health in Bangladesh. Structural interventions must integrate gender-transformative approaches that challenge discriminatory norms and promote women's social standing, reinforcing the interconnection between Sustainable Development Goal three (good health and well-being) and five (gender equality).
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.