==== Front
Innov Aging
Innov Aging
innovateage
Innovation in Aging
2399-5300 Oxford University Press US 

10.1093/geroni/igaa057.545
igaa057.545
Abstracts
Session 2885 (Poster)
Depression, Anxiety, and Mental Health
AcademicSubjects/SOC02600
Geographic Regional Variation in Patterns of Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Late-Life Depression
Vyas Chirag 1 Reynolds Charles III2 Mischoulon David 1 Chang Grace 3 Okereke Olivia 1 1 
Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, United States
2 
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, United States
3 
VA Brockton Healthcare System, Brockton, United States
2020 
16 12 2020 
16 12 2020 
4 Suppl 1 Program Abstracts from The GSA 2020 Annual Scientific Meeting “Turning 75: Why Age Matters”168 168
© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America.2020This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Abstract
There is evidence of racial/ethnic disparities in late-life depression (LLD) burden and treatment in the US. Geographic region may be a novel social determinant; yet, limited data exist regarding the interplay of geographic region with racial/ethnic differences in LLD severity, item-level symptom burden and treatment. We conducted a cross-sectional study among 25,503 men aged 50+ years and women aged 55+ years in VITAL-DEP (VITamin D and OmegA-3 TriaL-Depression Endpoint Prevention), an ancillary study to the VITAL trial. Racial/ethnic groups included Non-Hispanic White, Black, Hispanic, Asian, and other groups (Native American/Alaskan Native and other/multiple/unspecified-race/ethnicity). We assessed depression status using: the Patient Health Questionnaire-8 (PHQ-8); self-reported clinician/physician diagnosis of depression; medication and/or counseling treatment for depression. In the full sample, Midwest region was significantly associated with 12% lower severity of LLD, compared to Northeast region (rate ratio (RR) (95% confidence interval (CI)): 0.88 (0.83-0.93)). However, racial/ethnic differences in LLD varied by region. For example, in the Midwest, Blacks and Hispanics had significantly higher depression severity compared to non-Hispanic Whites (RR (95% CI): for Black, 1.16 (1.02-1.31); for Hispanic, 2.03 (1.38-3.00)). Furthermore, in multivariable-adjusted logistic regression models, minority vs. non-Hispanic White adults had 2- to 3-fold significantly higher odds of several item-level symptoms across all regions, especially in the Midwest and Southwest. Finally, among those endorsing PHQ-8≥10, Blacks had 60-80% significantly lower odds of depression treatment, compared to non-Hispanic Whites, in all regions. In summary, we observed significant geographic variation in patterns of racial/ethnic disparities in LLD outcomes. This requires further longitudinal investigation.