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Seasonal affective disorder: prevalence, detection and current treatment in North Wales
E E Michalak1, C Wilkinson, C Dowrick
1North Wales Section of the Department of General Practice, University of Wales College of Medicine, UK.
Background:
There is a paucity of information concerning the prevalence and detection of seasonal affective disorder (SAD) in UK populations.
Aims:
To determine the prevalence, detection and current treatment of SAD within a general population sample.
Method:
The study was conducted in conjunction with the Outcomes of Depression International Network (ODIN) project, a large European study of depression. At the North Wales arm of the project, 1999 adults were randomly selected from a health authority database and screened by post for SAD with the Seasonal Patterns Assessment Questionnaire (SPAQ). Those scoring above cut-off were offered diagnostic interview, after which diagnosis of SAD according to DSM-IV criteria could be made.
Results:
The prevalence rate of SAD was calculated to be 2.4% (95% CII.4-1.3). The majority of identified cases had not previously received a diagnosis of SAD from their general practitioner, although over half had been diagnosed with other forms of depression and had been prescribed antidepressant medication.
Conclusions:
Although SAD was found to be common in this general population sample it appeared to be largely underdiagnosed and/or misdiagnosed.