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Published on: February 22, 2018
Global burden of depressive disorders in the year 2000
T B Ustün1, J L Ayuso-Mateos, S Chatterji
1Global Programme on Evidence for Health Policy, WHO, Geneva, Switzerland. ustunb@who.int
Background:
The initial Global Burden of Disease study found that depression was the fourth leading cause of disease burden, accounting for 3.7% of total disability adjusted life years (DALYs) in the world in 1990.
Aims:
To present the new estimates of depression burden for the year 2000.
Method:
DALYs for depressive disorders in each world region were calculated, based on new estimates of mortality, prevalence, incidence, average age at onset, duration and disability severity.
Results:
Depression is the fourth leading cause of disease burden, accounting for 4.4% of total DALYs in the year 2000, and it causes the largest amount of non-fatal burden, accounting for almost 12% of all total years lived with disability worldwide.
Conclusions:
These data on the burden of depression worldwide represent a major public health problem that affects patients and society.
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