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Race, sex and depression-free life expectancy in Brazil, 1998–2013

Table 1. Prevalence of depression among adults in Brazil by race: 1998, 2008 and 2013
Sex White Black and Brown Other Races and Colors
1998 2008 2013 1998 2008 2013 1998 2008 2013
Total 5.4 5.1 9.0 4.6 3.4 6.5 3.7 4.5 5.2

Men 3.2 2.8 5.2 2.7 1.8 2.9 2.7 3.1 2.7

Women 7.4 7.1 12.3 6.5 4.9 9.8 4.8 5.6 6.9
Source: PNAD, PNS, IBGE, 1998, 2008, and 2013.

other hand, there was a slight decrease in depression in 2008 for all groups, except for the other races category. For men
of other races category, there was a decline in the proportion of depression between 2008 and 2013. Depression was most
prevalent among whites over the period 1998-2013 for both sexes, followed by blacks and browns. It was observed that
women had a higher frequency of depression than men for all races. Moreover, white women had the highest proportion
of depression when compared to men and other color categories, in all the years. For white women, the prevalence of
depression increased significantly from 1998 to 2013 (7.4% vs 12.3%, respectively).
In Tables 2 and 3, we present results for Total Life Expectancy (TLE) and Depression-free life expectancy (DFLE)
- the estimated number of years lived without depression, by race/color categories and broken down by sex. TLE has
increased for the total Brazilian population from 1998 to 2013 as well as for men and women, separately. Since we did not
have reliable life tables for each race category separately, the life expectancy used in our calculations was the same for all
race categories. Overall, we observed improvements in DFLE in the 15-period covered in our analyses, for all race/color
groups.
Among white women (Table 3), at age 30, the life expectancy (LE) was 47.1 years in 1998 compared to a DFLE of
40.6 years in the same year, which means that, on average, they lived 6.5 years with depression disability (86.2% of the
years were depression-free). If we consider the 15-year period from 1998 to 2008 and then to 2013, the percentage of
DFLE, went from 86.2% to 87.8% and then down to 86.3%. When we consider their black and brown counterparts, the
percentage of DFLE was higher and rose slightly from 87.3% in 1998 to 88.7% in 2013.
When we consider men at age 30, those of other races/colors had the highest percentage of DFLE in 1998, 95.9%, while
blacks and browns had 94.2% of the life-expectancy free of depression. This result means that white men at age 30 in
1998, could expect to live 38.4 years free of depression; the corresponding figures were 38.6 years for blacks and browns
and 39.3 years for “others”(Table 3).
Among older adults at age 60, white women had the lowest DFLE, which was 84.1% of the TLE in 1998; whereas
black and brown men and men of other races/colors had the highest percentage of DFLE, which were 98.0% and 99.5%,
respectively, in 2013. In general, men had a smaller share of years lived with depression when compared to women within
the same race groups, except for the category of others in 2008. In that race/color category, women were expected to live
95.1% of their TLE free of depression, as opposed to men, 92.1% (Table 3).

Table 2. Total life expectancy (TLE) by sex in Brazil: 1998, 2008 and 2013.
Total Men Women
Age
1998 2008 2013 1998 2008 2013 1998 2008 2013

30 44.0 46.3 47.5 41.0 43.3 44.6 47.1 49.3 50.4
40 35.1 37.3 38.5 32.5 34.7 35.8 37.8 39.9 41.0
50 26.8 28.7 29.7 24.5 26.4 27.4 28.9 30.9 31.9
60 19.2 20.8 21.7 17.4 19.0 19.9 20.8 22.5 23.4
80 7.6 8.6 9.2 6.9 7.8 8.3 8.2 9.2 9.8

Source: PNAD, PNS, IBGE, 1998, 2008, and 2013.

4 International Journal of Population Studies | 2018, Volume 4, Issue 1