Depressive symptoms in high-performance athletes and non-athletes: a comparative meta-analysis update

Provide an updated comparison of the prevalence of mild or more severe depressive symptoms between high-performance athletes and non-athletes.

Comparative OR meta-analysis.

PubMed (Medline), PsycINFO (Ebsco), Scopus (Elsevier) and SportDiscus (Ebsco). We conducted hand searches of reference lists of relevant papers.

Studies were included that were published in full in English; compared high-performance athletes and non-athletes; used a validated measure of depressive symptoms; and provided the prevalence of individuals who indicated at least mild depressive symptoms.

1834 records were screened, 58 reviewed for eligibility, and five studies were included and added to five studies from our previous meta-analysis. Collectively, 10 studies reporting data on 2430 high-performance athletes and 2725 non-athletes were evaluated. A risk of bias in prevalence studies assessment demonstrated an agreement between the two evaluating authors that was considered substantial or strong with a kappa statistic of 0.75. There was no significant difference in depressive symptom prevalence between high-performance athletes and non-athletes (OR=1.016, 95% CI=0.815 to 1.267, p=0.888). Male high-performance athletes (n=1708) were no more likely than male non-athletes (n=1556) to report mild or more severe depressive symptoms (OR=0.936, 95% CI=0.710 to 1.235, p=0.641). Female high-performance athletes (n=722) were no more likely than female non-athletes (n=1157) to report mild or more severe depressive symptoms (OR=1.031, 95% CI=0.818 to 1.299, p=0.796). Male high-performance athletes (n=1019) were 47% less likely to report mild or more severe depressive symptoms than female high-performance athletes (n=722) (OR=0.527, 95% CI=0.418 to 0.664, p<0.001). Male non-athletes (n=955) were 33% less likely to report mild or more severe depressive symptoms than female non-athletes (n=1157) (OR=0.666, 95% CI=0.447 to 0.992, p=0.045).

This meta-analysis found no significant difference in depressive symptom prevalence between high-performance athletes and non-athletes. However, both female high-performance athletes and non-athletes report a greater prevalence of depressive symptoms than their male counterparts.