Deborah Sebbane

Background: The population of French Guiana is young, poor, and multicultural. We thus hypothesized that the epidemiology of depression and its care may differ from that in mainland France. We took the opportunity of the Mental Health in the General Population survey to estimate the overall prevalence of depression in the general population and its prevalence in different sociodemographic subgroups using the MINI interview. Methods: The cross-sectional survey was conducted 881 persons aged > 17 years were interviewed and analyzed. Results: There were 151 current depressive episodes setting the prevalence at 17.1% (95% confidence interval = 14.8–19.8%). For recurrent depression, the prevalence was 7.9% (95% confidence interval = 6.3–9.9%). The prevalence of current depression was independently greater among younger age groups than those aged 65 or more (age ≤ 25 years (aPR = 4.4 (95% CI = 1.5–12.3), p = 0.004); age 26–35 years (aPR = 3.3 (95% CI = 1.2–9), p = 0.01) persons who did not complete primary education (aPR = 1.9 (95% CI = 1–3.5), p = 0.04), those who earned less than EUR 840 (aPR = 2 (95% CI = 1.1–3.8), p = 0.04), and those who were separated or divorced relative to those married or in a couple (aPR = 2.2 (95% CI = 1.1–4.5), p = 0.02). For recurrent depressive episodes, multiple Poisson regression found that younger age categories relative to those aged > 65 years ≤ 25 years (aPR = 9.9 (95% CI = 1.1–85.9), p = 0.04), those aged 26–35 years (aPR = 9.3 (95% CI = 1.1–78.9), p = 0.04), and female sex (aPR = 2.04 (95% CI = 1.2–3.4), p = 0.007) were independently associated with the outcome. Conclusions: Depression is more frequent in French Guiana than in mainland France and is strongly associated with youth and poverty.

Background: The context of French Guiana—characterized by frequent violence and intense immigration from regions where traumatic events are common—may lead to a different epidemiology of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) compared with mainland France. In the absence of prior data, we aimed to estimate the overall prevalence of PTSD in the general population of French Guiana, along with its prevalence across different sociodemographic groups. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted between March and August 2021, interviewing 881 subjects aged >17 years. Results: The overall prevalence of PTSD was 7.6 [95%CI = 5.9–9.5]. After adjusting for potential confounders among sociodemographic variables, only female sex (adjusted prevalence ratio (aPR) = 2.1, 95%CI = 1.2–3.6, p = 0.006), being a student (aPR = 2.4, 95%CI = 1.0–5.6, p = 0.05), being from Suriname (aPR = 5.8, 95%CI = 1.0–33.4, p = 0.05), not having completed primary education (aPR = 3.4, 95%CI = 1.3–8.9, p = 0.01), and being separated or divorced (aPR = 3, 95%CI = 1.1–8.2, p = 0.02) were significantly associated with PTSD. Of the 67 individuals with PTSD (46.3%), 31 sought care, 21 (31.3%) reported having received treatment for their symptoms, and 29 (43.3%) reported using alternative treatments, mostly plant-based traditional medicine. Of the 394 individuals who had experienced an unusual traumatic event, 67 (17%) developed PTSD. Conclusion: We found that the prevalence of PTSD is approximately 10 times higher than in mainland France and that substantial differences exist across origin, gender, and age group. We also observed that the majority of individuals do not seek treatment for their symptoms, and those who do often combine Western and traditional medicine. These findings emphasize the need for culturally sensitive approaches to screening and care.