Seasonal affective disorder in eight groups in Turkey: a cross-national perspective

Previous estimates of the prevalence of seasonal affective disorder (SAD) in community-based samples generally originated from western countries. We report prevalence rates in eight groups from four latitudes in Turkey.

Seasonal Pattern Assessment Questionnaire (SPAQ) was distributed to the community-based samples from eight different locations at four latitudes in Turkey. The prevalence rates of winter SAD and subsyndromal SAD (S-SAD) were estimated for the four groups at the same latitudes by using SPAQ responses.

We distributed 3229 SPAQs, had an overall response rate of 54.16% and 1749 SPAQs were included in the analyses. Seasonality was reported as a problem by 549 subjects (31.57%) of our 1749 respondents. Prevalence of winter SAD and S-SAD are estimated as 4.86 and 8.35%, respectively, for the whole group. Prevalence rates were determined for each center and for four latitudes (two centers at the same latitude were grouped as one). In Adana-Gaziantep (lt. 37), Izmir-Elaziğ (lt. 38), Eskişehir-Ankara (lt. 39) and Trabzon-Edirne (lt. 41), the prevalence rates for winter SAD were 6.66, 2.25, 8.00 and 3.76%, respectively.

Our prevalence estimates of winter SAD are similar to those found in previous community-based studies at the same latitudes; no correlation was found between latitude and prevalence of winter SAD, which could be related to the sampling methodology or to the fact that there were only 5 degrees of difference between the latitudes.