Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-grxwn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-02-05T08:26:06.360Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Trends in depression prevalence in the USA from 2005 to 2015: widening disparities in vulnerable groups

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 October 2017

A. H. Weinberger ,
M. Gbedemah ,
A. M. Martinez ,
D. Nash ,
S. Galea  and
R. D. Goodwin
A. H. Weinberger
Affiliation:
Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology, Yeshiva University, Bronx, NY, USA Department of Epidemiology & Population Health, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, USA
M. Gbedemah
Affiliation:
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, CUNY School of Public Health, New York, NY, USA
A. M. Martinez
Affiliation:
Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
D. Nash
Affiliation:
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, CUNY School of Public Health, New York, NY, USA Institute for Implementation Science in Population Health (ISPH), City University of New York, New York, NY, USA
S. Galea
Affiliation:
Department of Epidemiology, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA, NY, USA
R. D. Goodwin*
Affiliation:
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, CUNY School of Public Health, New York, NY, USA Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA Institute for Implementation Science in Population Health (ISPH), City University of New York, New York, NY, USA
*
Author for correspondence: R. D. Goodwin, Ph.D., M.P.H., E-mail: renee.goodwin@sph.cuny.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Background

Major depression is associated with significant disability, morbidity, and mortality. The current study estimated trends in the prevalence of major depression in the US population from 2005 to 2015 overall and by demographic subgroups.

Methods

Data were drawn from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), an annual cross-sectional study of US persons ages 12 and over (total analytic sample N = 607 520). Past-year depression prevalence was examined annually among respondents from 2005 to 2015. Time trends in depression prevalence stratified by survey year were tested using logistic regression. Data were re-analyzed stratified by age, gender, race/ethnicity, income, and education.

Results

Depression prevalence increased significantly in the USA from 2005 to 2015, before and after controlling for demographics. Increases in depression were significant for the youngest and oldest age groups, men, and women, Non-Hispanic White persons, the lowest income group, and the highest education and income groups. A significant year × demographic interaction was found for age. The rate of increase in depression was significantly more rapid among youth relative to all older age groups.

Conclusions

The prevalence of depression increased significantly in the USA from 2005 to 2015. The rate of increase in depression among youth was significantly more rapid relative to older groups. Further research into understanding the macro level, micro level, and individual factors that are contributing to the increase in depression, including factors specific to demographic subgroups, would help to direct public health prevention and intervention efforts.

Keywords

Agedepressionepidemiologygenderracesocioeconomic status
Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 48 , Issue 8 , June 2018 , pp. 1308 - 1315
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Akincigil, A, Olfson, M, Walkup, JT, Siegel, MJ, Kalay, E, Amin, S, Zurlo, KA, Crystal, S (2011) Diagnosis and treatment of depression in older community-dwelling adults: 1992–2005. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 59, 1042–1051.Google Scholar
American Psychological Association (1994) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th ed. (DSM-IV). American Psychiatric Association: Washington DC.Google Scholar
American Psychological Association (2014) Stress in American: Are Teens Adopting Adults’ Stress Habits? Stress in America™ Survey. American Psychological Association: Washington DC.Google Scholar
American Psychological Association (2016) Stress in America: The Impact of Discrimination. Stress in America™ Survey. American Psychological Association: Washigton DC.Google Scholar
Assari, S, Burgard, S, Zivin, K (2015) Long-term reciprocal associations between depression symptoms and number of chronic medical conditions: longitudinal support for Black-White health paradox. Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities 2, 589–597.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Assari, S, Lankarani, MM (2016a) Depressive symptoms are associated with more hopelessness among White than Black older adults. Frontiers in Public Health 4, 82.Google Scholar
Assari, S, Lankarani, MM (2016b) Stressful life events and risk of depression 25 years later: race and gender differences. Frontiers in Public Health 4, 49.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Assari, S, Moazen-Zadeh, E, Lankarani, MM, Micol-Foster, V (2016) Race, depressive symptoms, and all-cause mortality in the United States. Frontiers in Public Health 4, 40.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Azorin, J-M, Belzeaux, R, Fakra, E, Kaladjian, A, Hantouche, E, Lancrenon, S, Adida, M (2014) Gender differences in a cohort of major depressive patients: further evidence for the male depression syndrome hypothesis. Journal of Affective Disorders 167, 85–92.Google Scholar
Barnes, DM, Bates, LM (2017) Do racial patterns in psychological distress shed light on the Black-White depression paradox? A systematic review. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology 52, 913–928.Google Scholar
Barnes, DM, Keyes, KM, Bates, LM (2013) Racial differences in depression in the United States: how do subgroup analyses inform a paradox? Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology 48, 1941–1949.Google Scholar
Barr, B, Kinderman, P, Whitehead, M (2015) Trends in mental health inequalities in England during a period of recession, austerity and welfare reform 2004 to 2013. Social Science & Medicine 147, 324–331.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bonde, JP (2008) Psychosocial factors at work and risk of depression: a systematic review of the epidemiological evidence. Occupational and Environmental Medicine 65, 438–445.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Burgard, SA, Seefeldt, KS, Zelner, S (2012) Housing instability and health: findings from the Michigan recession and recovery study. Social Science & Medicine 75, 2215–2224.Google Scholar
Cagney, KA, Browning, CR, Iveniuk, J, English, N (2014) The onset of depression during the great recession: foreclosure and older adult mental health. American Journal of Public Health 104, 498–505.Google Scholar
Case, A, Deaton, A (2015) Rising morbidity and mortality in midlife among white non-Hispanic Americans in the 21st century. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 112, 15078–15083.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chang, SS, Stuckler, D, Yip, P, Gunnell, D (2013) Impact of 2008 global economic crisis on suicide: time trend study in 54 countries. BMJ 347, f5239.Google Scholar
Colman, I, Ataullahjan, A (2010) Life course perspectives on the epidemiology of depression. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry – Revue Canadienne de Psychiatrie 55, 622–632.Google Scholar
Compton, WM, Conway, FP, Steinson, FS, Grant, BF (2006) Changes in the prevalence of major depression and comorbid substance use disorders in the United States between 1991–1992 and 2001–2002. American Journal of Psychiatry 163, 2141–2147.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Economou, M, Madianos, M, Peppou, LE, Patelakis, A, Stefanis, CN (2013) Major depression in the era of economic crisis: a replication of a cross-sectional study across Greece. Journal of Affective Disorders 145, 308–314.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Everson, SA, Maty, SC, Lynch, JW, Kaplan, GA (2002) Epidemiologic evidence for the relation between socioeconomic status and depression, obesity, and diabetes. Journal of Psychosomatic Research 53, 891–895.Google Scholar
Häfner, H (1985) Are mental disorders increasing over time? Psychopathology 18, 66–81.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hasin, DS, Goodwin, RD, Stinson, FS, Grant, BF (2005) Epidemiology of major depressive disorder: results from the national epidemiologic survey on alcoholism and related conditions. Archives of General Psychiatry 62, 1097–1106.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hasin, DS, Grant, BF (2015) The national epidemiologic survey on alcohol and related conditions (NESARC) waves 1 and 2: review and summary of findings. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology 50, 1609–1640.Google Scholar
Hedden, S, Gfroerer, J, Barker, P, Smith, S, Pemberton, MR, Saavedra, LM, Forman-Hoffman, VL, Ringeisen, H, Novak, SP (2012) CBHSQ Data Review: Comparison of NSDUH Mental Health Data and Methods with Other Data Sources. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality: Rockville, MD.Google ScholarPubMed
Hidaka, BH (2012) Depression as a disease of modernity: explanations for increasing prevalence. Journal of Affective Disorders 140, 205–214.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Katikireddi, SV, Niedzwiedz, CL, Popham, F (2012) Trends in population mental health before and after the 2008 recession: a repeat cross-sectional analysis of the 1991–2010 health surveys of England. BMJ Open 2, pii: e001790. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2012-001790.Google Scholar
Kendler, KS, Gatz, M, Gardner, CO, Pedersen, NL (2006) A Swedish national twin study of lifetime major depression. American Journal of Psychiatry 163, 109–114.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kessel Schneider, S, O'Donnell, L, Smith, E (2012) Trends in cyberbullying and school bullying victimization in a regional census of high school students, 2006–2012. The Journal of School Health 85, 611–620.Google Scholar
Keyes, CLM (2009) The Black-White paradox in health: flourishing in the face of social inequality and discrimination. Journal of Personality 77, 1677–1706.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kuehner, C (2017) Why is depression more common among women than among men? Lancet Psychiatry 4, 146–158.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lin, LY, Sidani, JE, Shensa, A, Radovic, A, Miller, E, Colditz, JB, Hoffman, BL, Giles, LM, Primack, BA (2016) Association between social media use and depression among U.S. young adults. Depression and Anxiety 33, 323–331.Google Scholar
Lopez, AD, Mathers, CD (2006) Measuring the global burden of disease and epidemiological transitions: 2002–2030. Annals of Tropical Medicine and Parasitology 100, 481–499.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lopez-Leon, S, Janssens, AC, Gonzalez-Zuloeta Ladd, AM, Del-Favero, J, Claes, SJ, Oostra, BA, van Duijn, CM (2008) Meta-analyses of genetic studies on major depressive disorder. Molecular Psychiatry 13, 772–785.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lorant, V, Deliege, D, Eaton, W, Robert, A, Philippot, P, Ansseau, M (2003) Socioeconomic inequalities in depression: a meta-analysis. American Journal of Epidemiology 157, 98–112.Google Scholar
Marcus, SC, Olfson, M (2010) National trends in the treatment for depression from 1998 to 2007. Archives of General Psychiatry 67, 1265–1273.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mathers, CD, Loncar, D (2006) Projections of global mortality and burden of disease from 2002 to 2030. PLoS Medicine 3, e442.Google Scholar
McLaughlin, KA, Nandi, A, Keyes, KM, Uddin, M, Aiello, AE, Galea, S, Koenen, KC (2012) Home foreclosure and risk of psychiatric morbidity during the recent financial crisis. Psychological Medicine 42, 1441–1448.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Moazen-Zadeh, E, Assari, S (2016) Depressive symptoms predict major depressive disorder after 15 years among Whites but not Blacks. Frontiers in Public Health 4, 13.Google Scholar
Mojtabai, R, Olfson, M, Han, B (2016) National trends in the prevalence and treatment of depression in adolescents and young adults. Pediatrics 138, e20161878.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Olfson, M, Marcus, SC, Druss, B, Elinson, L, Tanielian, T, Pincus, HA (2002) National trends in the outpatient treatment of depression. JAMA 287, 203–209.Google Scholar
Osypuk, TL, Caldwell, CH, Platt, RW, Misra, DP (2012) The consequences of foreclosure for depressive symptomatology. Annals of Epidemiology 22, 379–387.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pratt, LA, Brody, DJ (2014) Depression in the U.S. Household Population, 2009–2012. NCHS data brief, no 172. National Center for Health Statistics: Hyattsville, MD.Google Scholar
Reeves, A, Stuckler, D, McKee, M, Gunnell, D, Chang, SS, Basu, S (2012) Increase in state suicide rates in the USA during economic recession. Lancet 380, 1813–1814.Google Scholar
Rice, SM, Fallon, BJ, Aucote, HM, Möller-Leimkühler, AM, Treeby, MS, Amminger, GP (2015) Longitudinal sex differences of externalising and internalising depression symptom trajectories: implications for assessment of depression in men from an online study. International Journal of Social Psychiatry 61, 236–240.Google Scholar
Riolo, SA, Nguyen, TA, Greden, JF, King, CA (2005) Prevalence of depression by race/ethnicity: findings from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey III. American Journal of Public Health 95, 998–1000.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rockett, IR, Lilly, CL, Jia, H, Larkin, GL, Miller, TR, Nelson, LS, Nolte, KB, Putnam, SL, Smith, GS, Caine, ED (2016) Self-injury mortality in the United States in the early 21st century: a comparison with proximally ranked diseases. JAMA Psychiatry 73, 1072–1081.Google Scholar
Rubio, JM, Markowitz, JC, Alegría, A, Pérez-Fuentes, G, Liu, SM, Lin, KH, Blanco, C (2011) Epidemiology of chronic and nonchronic major depressive disorder: results from the national epidemiologic survey on alcohol and related conditions. Depression and Anxiety 28, 622–631.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Saint Onge, JM, Krueger, PM, Rogers, RG (2014) The relationship between major depression and nonsuicide mortality for U.S. Adults: the importance of health behaviors. Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences 69, 622–632.Google Scholar
SAMHSA (2015) National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 2016. Codebook. SAMHSA: Rockville, MD.Google Scholar
Seabrook, EM, Kern, ML, Rickard, NS (2016) Social networking sites, depression, and anxiety: a systematic review. JMIR Mental Health 3, e50.Google Scholar
Shensa, A, Escobar-Viera, CG, Sidani, JE, Bowman, ND, Marshal, MP, Primack, BA (2017) Problematic social media use and depressive symptoms among U.S. young adults: a nationally-representative study. Social Science & Medicine 182, 150–157.Google Scholar
Shim, RS, Baltrus, P, Ye, J, Rust, G (2011) Prevalence, treatment, and control of depressive symptoms in the United States: results from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), 2005–2008. Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine 24, 33–38.Google Scholar
Skovlund, CW, Kessing, LV, Mørch, LS, Lidegaard, O (2017) Increase in depression diagnosis and prescribed antidepressants among young girls. A national cohort study 2000–2013. Nordic Journal of Psychiatry 71, 378–385.Google Scholar
Solantaus, T, Leinonen, J, Punamaki, RL (2004) Children's mental health in times of economic recession: replication and extension of the family economic stress model in Finland. Developmental Psychology 40, 412–429.Google Scholar
Sullivan, PF, Neale, MC, Kendler, KS (2000) Genetic epidemiology of major depression: review and meta-analysis. American Journal of Psychiatry 157, 1552–1562.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Van de Velde, S, Bracke, P, Levecque, K (2010) Gender differences in depression in 23 European countries. Cross-national variation in the gender gap in depression. Social Science & Medicine 71, 305–313.Google Scholar
Whiteford, H, Harris, M, McKeon, G, Baxter, A, Pennell, C, Barendregt, J, Wang, J (2013) Estimating remission from untreated major depression: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Psychological Medicine 43, 1569–1585.Google Scholar
WHO (2016) Depression (http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs369/en/). Accessed 18 February 2017.Google Scholar
Williams, DR, Earl, TR (2007) Commentary: race and mental health: more questions than answers. International Journal of Epidemiology 36, 758–760.Google Scholar
Williams, DR, González, HM, Neighbors, H, Nesse, R, Abelson, JM, Sweetman, J, Jackson, JS (2007) Prevalence and distribution of major depressive disorder in African Americans, Caribbean blacks, and non-Hispanic whites: results from the National Survey of American Life. Archives of General Psychiatry 64, 305–315.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Supplementary material: File

Weinberger et al supplementary material

Tables S1-S6

Download Weinberger et al supplementary material(File)
File 55.9 KB