CGPH FACULTY: William Dow
DATE OF PUBLICATION: June 2014
REGION: Latin America
REFERENCE: Domino ME, Dow WH, Coto-Yglesias F. Educational Gradients in Psychotropic Medication Use Among Older Adults in Costa Rica and the United States. Psychiatr Serv. 2014 Jun 16. doi: 10.1176/appi.ps.201300092.
SUMMARY/ABSTRACT: The relationship of education, psychiatric diagnoses, and use of psychotropic medication has been explored in the United States, but little is known about this relationship in poorer countries, despite the high burden of mental illness in these countries. This study estimated educational gradients in diagnosis and psychotropic drug use in the United States and Costa Rica, a middle-income country with universal health insurance. The educational gradients in medication use were different in the United States and Costa Rica, and stigma and access to care in these countries may play an important role in these differences, although type of insurance did not affect educational gradients in the United States. These analyses increase the evidence of the role of education in use of the health care system.
ACCESS: Link to Pubmed