“The characteristics of antidepressant use and its correlates were assessed in the four Established Populations for Epidemiologic Study of the Elderly (EPESE) communities (n=13,074).”

“African-Americans were significantly less likely than whites to be using antidepressant medication… After entering variables in a multivariate regression model, higher antidepressant use was associated with female gender, race, poor self-perceived health, and a greater number of contacts with doctors in the last year.”

“In both New Haven and North Carolina, whites were more likely to use medications than blacks…. Race remained a significant factor even after adjusting for all other factors in the model, with whites being 2.5-4.4 times more likely to be on antidepressant medication than blacks.

“Physicians may be more reluctant to prescribe these drugs to African-Americans because of the potential side effects…. Other factors which may be more difficult to measure are the ways in which race affects physicians’ treatment decisions and the influence of patients’ decisions to seek treatment for depressive symptoms.”