Depression in Manitoba: Patterns of health care use; a comparison of administrative and survey data

Information about disease prevalence comes from different sources and using different methodologies. How then do results on the same disease compare? This study looks at the prevalence of depression and the associated patterns of health care use. A database of consenting Manitoba respondents to the 1996/97 Statistics Canada National Population Health Survey was linked to the Manitoba Population Health Research Data Repository.; The administrative database was found to yield a significantly higher one year depression prevalence (5.8% 95%CI=5.4-6.3) than the survey (4.1% with 95%CI=3.7-4.5), but the sources did not necessarily capture the same people (Kappa=0.26, 95%CI=0.23-0.30). The survey found a higher prevalence of depression in young people than did the administrative data (79% vs. 44% were <50 years). 25% of those with a diagnosis of depression were over 70 years old as compared with 7% of those who self-reported depression in the survey. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)...