Area and individual circumstances and mood disorder prevalence.

BACKGROUND Associations have been demonstrated between contextual (area level) factors and a range of physical health outcomes, but their relationship with mental health outcomes is less well understood. AIMS To investigate the relative strength of association between individual and area-level demographic and socio-economic factors and mood disorder prevalence in the UK. METHOD Cross-sectional data from 19 687 participants from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition in Norfolk. RESULTS Area deprivation was associated with current (12-month) mood disorders after adjusting for individual-level socio-economic status (OR for top v. bottom quartile of deprivation scores 1.29, 95% CI 1.1-1.5, P<0.001). However, this association was small relative to those observed for individual marital and employment status. Significant residual area-level variation in current mood disorders (representing 3.6% of total variation, P=0.04) was largely accounted for by individual-level factors. CONCLUSIONS The magnitude of the association between socio-economic status and mood disorders is greater at the individual level than at the area level.