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Depression in adults

How common is depression?

Depression is fairly common. It's one of the most common reasons for people to visit their doctor.

About 1 in 7 adults get depression serious enough to need treatment at some point in their lives.

Source:
Reus V, Braunwald E, Fauci AS, et al.
Mental disorders.
In: Harrison TR (editor). Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine. 15th edition. McGraw-Hill Publishing Co.; 2001.

¹
About 5 in 100 to 10 in 100 people who visit their doctor have depression.

Source:
Katon W, Rutter C, Ludman EJ, et al.
A randomized trial of relapse prevention of depression in primary care.
Archives of General Psychiatry. 2001; 58: 241-247.

² Two to three times this number have some symptoms of depression, but not severely enough for them to be diagnosed.
Up to 1 in 7 older people (over age 65) get some of the symptoms of depression. But depression that needs treatment is relatively rare in this age group.

Source:
Beekman AT, Copeland JR, Prince MJ.
Review of community prevalence of depression in later life.
British Journal of Psychiatry. 1999; 174: 307-311.

³
Overall, depression is the fourth most important cause of disability worldwide.

Source:
Murray CJ, Lopez AD.
Regional patterns of disability-free life expectancy and disability-adjusted life expectancy: global Burden of Disease Study.
The Lancet. 1997; 349: 1347-1352.

⁴

Source:
Murray CJ, Lopez AD.
Alternative projections of mortality and disability by cause 1990-2020: Global Burden of Disease Study.
The Lancet. 1997; 349: 1498-1504.

⁵

Sources for the information on this page:

Reus V, Braunwald E, Fauci AS, et al.Mental disorders.In: Harrison TR (editor). Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine. 15th edition. McGraw-Hill Publishing Co.; 2001.

Katon W, Rutter C, Ludman EJ, et al.A randomized trial of relapse prevention of depression in primary care.Archives of General Psychiatry. 2001; 58: 241-247.

Beekman AT, Copeland JR, Prince MJ.Review of community prevalence of depression in later life.British Journal of Psychiatry. 1999; 174: 307-311.

Murray CJ, Lopez AD.Regional patterns of disability-free life expectancy and disability-adjusted life expectancy: global Burden of Disease Study.The Lancet. 1997; 349: 1347-1352.

Murray CJ, Lopez AD.Alternative projections of mortality and disability by cause 1990-2020: Global Burden of Disease Study.The Lancet. 1997; 349: 1498-1504.

This information was last updated on Apr 09, 2009

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