Residence in urban and rural areas over the life course and depression among Ghanaian and South African older adults.

This study assessed associations between depression and urban/rural residence from a life-course perspective within African settings. Data on Ghanaian and South African adults aged 50 years and older were taken from wave 1 of the World Health Organization Study on Global Ageing and Adult Health (SAGE). Neither urbanicity of childhood nor adulthood residence was associated with later-life depression in either country. Significant differences were also not observed for residence changes over the life course, but there were trends in the data suggestive of higher depression prevalence in Ghanaian recent rural-urban migrants and lower prevalence among South African recent urban-rural migrants.