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Am J Psychiatry 1997; 154:941-947
Copyright © 1997 by American Psychiatric Association
Vulnerability of Jews to affective disorders
I Levav, R Kohn, JM Golding and MM Weissman
Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Brown University, Providence, RI 02906, USA.
OBJECTIVE: Psychiatric literature over the past 100 years suggests that
Jews are at higher risk for affective disorders than numbers of other
religious groups. To examine these claims, the authors analyzed data from
the National Institute of Mental Health Epidemiologic Catchment Area (ECA)
study. In addition, the relationships among gender, alcoholism, and major
depression were investigated. METHOD: The period prevalence and lifetime
rates of DSM-III major depression among Jews, Catholics, Protestants,
individuals in other religious groups, and individuals with no religious
affiliation were examined in the Los Angeles and New Haven, Conn., ECA
data. Logistic regression with covariates for site, gender, marital status,
and socioeconomic status was used to estimate odds ratios and 95%
confidence intervals. The calculated rates, based on the combined data from
ECA study waves 1 and 2 for the white population, were weighted according
to the 1980 U.S. population census. Female-to-male rate ratios and rates of
alcohol abuse/dependence were also obtained. RESULTS: While no differences
were found among females, Jewish males had significantly higher rates of
major depression than Catholics, Protestants, and all non-Jews combined.
Jews had a 1:1 female-to-male ratio for major depression, in contrast to
the other religious groups, which approached the universal 2:1 ratio. Rates
of alcohol abuse/dependence were inversely related to rates of major
depression. CONCLUSIONS: The results support only in part the earlier
reports that Jews have higher rates of depression. The equal gender
distribution of major depression among Jews may be associated with the
lower rate of alcoholism among Jewish males.
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