Abstract
Review of the published literature produces 1-year prevalence rates for major depressive disorder DSM-III between 2.6 and 6.2%, for dysthymia between 2.3 and 3.7%, bipolar disorder 1.0–1.7%. Data from the prospective Zurich Study with four interviews over 10 years give relatively high 10-year prevalence rates for subjects from age 20 to 30 (14.4% major depression, 10.5% recurrent brief depression, 0.9% dysthymia, 3.3% bipolar disorder, 1.3% hypomania). On average, 49% of all these cases received treatment for affective disorder, resulting in a weighted treatment prevalence rate of the population of 11.6% (18% for females and 5% for males). It has to be assumed that lifetime prevalence rates based on recall may greatly underestimate true morbidity.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Angst J (1988) Recurrent brief depression. A new concept of mild depression. In: Abstracts of the VIth CINP Congress, Munich 1988. Psychopharmacology [suppl] 96:62
Angst J (1990) How recurrent and predictable is depressive illness. In: Montgomery SA, Rouillon F (eds) Progress in psychiatry (The long term treatment of depression, vol 3). Wiley, Sussex, England
Angst J, Wicki W (1991) Is dysthymia a separate form of depression? Results of the Zurich cohort study. Paper presented at Meeting of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, Birmingham 1990 Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci 240:349–354
Angst J, Dobler-Mikola A, Binder J (1984) The Zurich Study — A prospective epidemiological study of depressive, neurotic and psychosomatic syndromes. I. Problem, methodology. Eur Arch Psychiatry Neurol Sci 234:13–20
Angst J, Vollrath M, Koch R (1988) New aspects on epidemiology of depression. In: Angst J, Woggon B (eds) Lofepramine in the treatment of depressive disorders. Review of the past 10 years and future prospects. International Symposium organized by the Psychiatric University Hospital, Zurich, in Lugano 1987. Vieweg, Braunschweig, pp 1–14
Angst J, Merikangas K, Scheidegger P (1989) Recurrent Brief Depression. A new subtype of affective disorder. British Association for Psychopharmacology (BAP)/Canadian College of Neuropsychopharmacology (CCNP) Joint Annual Meeting, Cambridge, England, 1989. Abstracts No 33, p 9
Angst J, Merikangas K, Scheidegger P, Wicki W (1990) Recurrent brief depression: a new subtype of affective disorder. J Affect Dis 19:87–98
Bland RC, Newman SC, Orn H (1988) Lifetime prevalence of psychiatric disorders in Edmonton. Acta Psychiatr Scand 338:24–32
Buzzard EF, Miller HE, Riddoch G, Yellowlees H, Reynell WR, Boyle H, Hobhouse N, Strauss EB (1930) Discussion on the diagnosis and treatment of the milder forms of the manicdepressive psychosis. Proc R Soc Med 23:881–895
Canino GJ, Bird HR, Shrout PE, Rubio-Stiped M, Bravo M, Marinez R, Sesman M, Guevara LM (1987) The prevalence of specific psychiatric disorders in Puerto Rico. Arch Gen Psychiatry 44:727–735
Eaton WW, Holzer DE, von Korff M, Anthony JC, Helzer JE, George L, Burnam A, Boyd JH, Kessler LG, Locke BZ (1984) The design of the Epidemiologic Catchment Area Surveys. The control and measurement of error. Arch Gen Psychiatry 41:942–948
Elliot D, Huizinger D, Morse BJ (1985) The dynamics of deviant behaviour. A national survey: progress report. Behavioural Research Institute, Boulder, CO
Faravelli C, Incerpi G (1985) Epidemiology of affective disorders in Florence. Preliminary results. Acta Psychiatr Scand 72:331–333
Fine S, Moretti M, Halley G, Marriage K (1985) Affective disorders in children and adolescents: the dysthymic disorder dilemma. Can J Psychiatry 30:173–177
Frances A, Voss CB (1987) Dysthymic disorder complicated by bouts of major depression. Hosp Community Psychiatry 38:461–463
Gregory MS (1915) Transient attacks of manic-depressive insanity. Med Record (New York) 88:1040–1044
Jablensky A (1987) Prediction of the course and outcome of depression. Psychol Med 17:1–9
Kashani J, Carlson GA, Beck NC, Hoeper EW, Corcoran CM, McAllister JA, Fallahi C, Rosenberg TK, Reid JC (1987) Depression, depressive symptoms, and depressed mood among a community sample of adolescents. Am J Psychiatry 144:931–934
Keller MB, Shapiro RW (1982) “Double depression”: superimposition of acute depressive episodes on chronic depressive disorders. Am J Psychiatry 239:438–442
Kivelä SL, Pahkala K, Laippala P (1988) Prevalence of depression in an elderly population in Finland. Acta Psychiatr Scand 78:401–413
Kocsis JH, Frances AJ (1987) A critical discussion of DSM-III. Psychiatry 144:1534–1542
Murphy JM (1980) Continuities in community-based psychiatric epidemiology. Arch Gen Psychiatry 37:1215–1223
Oliver JM, Simmons ME (1985) Affective disorders and depression as measured by the Diagnostic Interview Schedule and the Beck Depression Inventory in an unselected adult population. J Clin Psychol 41:486–576
Paskind HA (1929) Brief attacks of manic-depressive depressions. Arch Neurol (Chicago) 22:123–134
Read CF (1929) Discussion. Arch Neurol (Chicago) 22:133
Regier DA, Myers JK, Kramer M, Robins LN, Blazer D, Hough RL, Eaton WW, Locke BZ (1984) The NIMH Epidemiologic Catchment Area Program. Historical context, major objectives, and study population characteristics. Arch Gen Psychiatry 41:934–941
Robins LN, Helzer JE, Croughan J, Ratcliff KS (1981) National Institute of Mental Health Diagnostic Interview Schedule. Its history, characteristics, and validity. Arch Gen Psychiatry 38:381–389
Spitzer RL, Endicott J, Robins E (1978) Research diagnostic criteria. Rationale and reliability. Arch Gen Psychiatry 35:773–782
Strohmeyer W (1914) Manisch-depressives Irresein. Bergmann, Wiesbaden
Weissman MM, Myers JK (1978) Rates and risks of depressive symptoms in a United States urban community. Acta Psychiatr Scand 57:219–231
Weissman MM, Leaf PJ, Bruce ML, Florio L (1988) The epidemiology of dysthymia in five communites: rates, risks, comorbidity-treatment. Am J Psychiatry 145:815–819
Wittchen HU, Zerssen D von (1987) Verläufe behandelter und unbehandelter Depressionen und Angststörungen. Eine klinisch-psychiatrische und epidemiologische Verlaufsuntersuchung. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Project supported by grant 3.873.0.88 from the Swiss National Science Foundation
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Angst, J. Epidemiology of depression. Psychopharmacology 106 (Suppl 1), S71–S74 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02246240
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02246240