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Prevalence Rates and Correlates of Probable Major Depressive Disorder in Residents of Fort McMurray 6 Months After a Wildfire

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Abstract

This study assesses the prevalence rates for a major depressive disorder (MDD) in residents of Fort McMurray 6 months after a wildfire and to determine the demographic, clinical, and other predictors of likely MDD in the respondents. One thousand five hundred adult residents of Fort McMurray who could read and provide written informed consent were enrolled on this cross-sectional survey. The PHQ-9 was used to assess the presence or absence of probable MDD. Overall, 486 respondents with an age range of 18 to 88 and about a two thirds being females completed in full all of the key psychometric questionnaires and were included in the analysis. The 1-month prevalence rate for likely MDD 6 months after the disaster was 14.8% overall. Corresponding odds ratios for likely MDD included 2.77 (95% CI of 1.03–7.46) and 12.75 (95% CI of 2.22–73.21) for those who received limited or no support respectively from friends or family, 5.31 (95% CI of 1.3–20.1) for those who had history of an anxiety disorder before the wildfire and 2.57 (CI of 1.1–6.2) for those who have received counseling after the wildfire, while controlling for other factors in the model. While a prior diagnosis of an anxiety disorder significantly increased risk for developing MDD following wildfires, high level support from family and friends may be protective. Further studies are needed to explore the association between receiving counseling after a wildfire and presenting with likely MDD.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Department of Psychiatry, University of Alberta.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Alberta, 8440 112 St NW, Edmonton, AB, T6G 2B7, Canada

    Vincent I. O. Agyapong, Michal Juhás, Matthew R. G. Brown, Marianne Hrabok, Xin-Min Li, Andrew Greenshaw & Pierre Chue

  2. Department of Public Health, Alberta Health Services, Fort McMurray, Canada

    Joy Omege

  3. Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, T6G 2B7, Canada

    Edward Denga, Bernard Nwaka & Idowu Akinjise

  4. Department of Psychiatry, Northern Lights Regional Health Centre, Fort McMurray, Canada

    Sandra E. Corbett

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  1. Vincent I. O. Agyapong
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  2. Michal Juhás
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  3. Matthew R. G. Brown
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  4. Joy Omege
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  10. Xin-Min Li
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  11. Andrew Greenshaw
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  12. Pierre Chue
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Contributions

VIOA conceived and designed the study, supervised data collection, analyzed the data and jointly drafted the initial manuscript with MJ. MJ contributed to the study design and analysis and jointly drafted the initial manuscript with VIOA. MB participated in analyzing the data, reviewing and editing the initial draft of the manuscript. JO, ED, BN, IA, and SC participated in data collection, reviewing and editing the initial draft of the manuscript. MH, XL, AG and PC contributed to data interpretation and editing the initial draft of the manuscript. All authors approved of the final draft of the manuscript before submission.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Vincent I. O. Agyapong.

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Competing Interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Data Sharing

Data relating to this paper are available upon reasonable request from the corresponding author.

Ethics Approval and Consent

The study received ethics approval from the University of Alberta Ethics Review Board and informed written consent was obtained from all study participants.

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Agyapong, V.I.O., Juhás, M., Brown, M.R.G. et al. Prevalence Rates and Correlates of Probable Major Depressive Disorder in Residents of Fort McMurray 6 Months After a Wildfire. Int J Ment Health Addiction 17, 120–136 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-018-0004-8

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