IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pmen00/0000620.html

Who gets help? Analyzing disparities in diagnosis, treatment, and care seeking of anxiety and depression among women in Bangladesh

Author

Listed:
  • Isna Haque Sheoti
  • Md Zakiul Alam

Abstract

Reproductive-aged women in Bangladesh exhibit low rates of anxiety and depression diagnosis, treatment, and care-seeking. This study investigated these factors and their correlates. Using data from the 2022 Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey, we analyzed diagnosis (whether a healthcare provider ever informed), treatment (prescribed medication), and care-seeking (ever sought help and source). Log-binomial and Poisson regression models identified associated factors. Overall, 7.6% of respondents reported ever being diagnosed with anxiety and/or depression. When disaggregated, 3.39% were diagnosed with anxiety only, 0.56% with depression only, and 3.62% with both conditions. Furthermore, 11.85% had sought care from the formal sector. Compared with women aged 15–19 years, those aged 25 years and above showed significantly higher prevalence of diagnosis and care-seeking, while treatment was significantly higher among women aged 40–49 years. After adjustment, regional and residence-based differences in treatment were not statistically significant; however, some divisions showed significantly higher odds of care-seeking. Women with a positive attitude towards wife beating showed higher levels of diagnosis (PR = 1.28, CI: 1.06, 1.45, p = 0.008), treatment (PR = 1.50, CI: 1.17, 1.92, p = 0.001), and care-seeking (PR = 1.52, CI: 1.34, 1.72, p

Suggested Citation

  • Isna Haque Sheoti & Md Zakiul Alam, 2026. "Who gets help? Analyzing disparities in diagnosis, treatment, and care seeking of anxiety and depression among women in Bangladesh," PLOS Mental Health, Public Library of Science, vol. 3(5), pages 1-24, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pmen00:0000620
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pmen.0000620
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/mentalhealth/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmen.0000620
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/mentalhealth/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pmen.0000620&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pmen.0000620?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pmen00:0000620. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: mentalhealth (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/mentalhealth/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.