BACKGROUND: Increasing educational level of the population could be a strategy to prevent depression. We investigated whether education may offer a greater benefit for mental health to women and to individuals living in socioeconomically disadvantaged areas. METHODS: We performed a cross-sectional study using data on 6964 Czech participants of the Health, Alcohol and Psychosocial factors in Eastern Europe study (on average 58 years old; 53% women). Binary logistic regression was used to examine the association of education with depressive symptoms, adjusting for several groups of covariates. Interactions were tested between education and sex as well as between education and socioeconomic advantage of the area of residence. RESULTS: Higher education was strongly associated with lower odds of depressive symptoms, independently of sociodemographic characteristics, health behavior and somatic diseases. This association was attenuated after adjusting for other markers of individual socioeconomic position (work activity, material deprivation and household items). There were no interactions between education and either sex or socioeconomic advantage of the area of residence. CONCLUSIONS: We did not find an independent association between education and depressive symptoms after controlling for other socioeconomic markers in a sample with a formative history of communistic ideologies. Women or individuals from socioeconomically disadvantaged areas do not seem to gain a larger mental health benefit from education.

• MeSH
• Depression * epidemiology   MeSH
• Middle Aged MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Cross-Sectional Studies MeSH
• Socioeconomic Factors MeSH
• Educational Status MeSH
• Check Tag
• Middle Aged MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Male MeSH
• Female MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH
• Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural MeSH
• Geographicals
• Czech Republic epidemiology   MeSH
• Europe, Eastern MeSH

PURPOSE: To examine whether the frequency and amount of alcohol consumed in binge drinking sessions, total annual volume of alcohol consumed, problem drinking and abstaining from alcohol are associated with depressive symptoms in Eastern Europe. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Cross-sectional data from a total of 24,381 participants from general population samples of the Czech Republic (N = 7,601), Russia (N = 6,908) and Poland (N = 9,872) aged 45-69 years in 2002-2005. Depressive symptoms were defined as ≥ 16 points on the Centre for Epidemiological Studies - Depression (CES-D) scale. Several alcohol related measures were derived using responses from the graduated frequency questionnaire. Binge drinking was defined at several sex-specific thresholds (ranging from 60+ to 140+ g of ethanol) and two frequencies (at least monthly or weekly). Total annual alcohol intake in grams was also extracted. Problem drinking was defined as ≥ 2 positive answers on the CAGE questionnaire. RESULTS: Problem drinking was consistently associated with approximately a 2-fold increase in odds of depressive symptoms across all countries and in both sexes. Abstaining from alcohol was typically associated with increased odds of depressive symptoms. Analyses separating lifelong abstainers and former drinkers in the Russian cohort revealed that this increased odds was driven by former drinkers. Amongst men, heavy frequent binge drinking was associated with increased odds of depressive symptoms in the Czech Republic and Poland. In women, heavy infrequent binge drinking was associated with increased odds of depressive symptoms in Russia and Poland. Only in Polish men was higher annual volume of alcohol intake associated with increased odds of depressive symptoms. CONCLUSION: Abstaining from alcohol and problem drinking were associated with increased odds of depressive symptoms in these Eastern European populations. Annual volume of alcohol intake as well as frequency and amount of alcohol consumed in a binge drinking session were less consistently associated with depressive symptoms.

• MeSH
• Alcoholism * MeSH
• Alcohol Abstinence * MeSH
• Depression etiology   MeSH
• Middle Aged MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Urban Population MeSH
• Odds Ratio MeSH
• Alcohol Drinking * MeSH
• Cross-Sectional Studies MeSH
• Regression Analysis MeSH
• Risk Factors MeSH
• Aged MeSH
• Check Tag
• Middle Aged MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Male MeSH
• Aged MeSH
• Female MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH
• Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural MeSH
• Geographicals
• Czech Republic MeSH
• Poland MeSH
• Russia MeSH