Study provides an update on depression prevalence among the U.S. population

Increases in depression without proportional increases in treatment are widespread, reports a study conducted at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and the City University of New York. In 2020, depression in the past 12 months was prevalent among nearly 1 in 10 Americans and nearly 1 in 5 adolescents and young adults. The embargoed findings will be posted online at the American journal of preventive medicine.

The data was drawn from the 2015-2020 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, a nationally representative study of Americans ages 12 and older. Major depression is the most common mental disorder in the US and is the strongest risk factor for suicidal behavior. Previous findings show increases in depression in the US population from 6.6% in 2005 to 7.3% in 2015.

Our study updates depression prevalence estimates for the US population through 2020 and confirms increasing increases in depression from 2015 to 2019, reflecting an unfolding public health crisis. intensifying in the US even before the start of the pandemic. The net effect of these trends suggests an accelerating public health crisis and that parity efforts and public service announcements have not achieved equity in the treatment of depression.”

Renee D. Goodwin, PhD, Associate Professor in the Department of Epidemiology at the Columbia Mailman School of Public Health and Professor of Epidemiology at the City University of New York in New York, and lead author

In 2020, 9 percent of Americans ages 12 and older experienced a major depressive episode in the past year. Depression was most common among young adults ages 18 to 25 at just over 17 percent and teens ages 12 to 17 (16.9 percent). Depression increased most rapidly among adolescents and young adults and increased among nearly all gender, race/ethnicity, income, and education groups. However, the prevalence of depression did not change among adults aged 35 years and older. Overall, help-seeking prevalence remained consistently low.

“Our results showed that the majority of adolescents with depression did not tell or talk to a health professional about depression symptoms or receive drug treatment between 2015 and 2020,” Goodwin noted.

The prevalence of depression among non-Hispanic whites exceeded that of all other racial/ethnic groups. Depression was also consistently higher among women compared to men, and among adults who were unmarried or previously unmarried. While there was an increase in depression from 2015 to 2019 among people in each income group, the highest prevalence of depression was evident among people with the lowest family incomes.

“The elevated level and concentration of untreated depression among adolescents and young adults is especially problematic because untreated depression early in life predicts a higher risk of additional mental health problems later,” Goodwin said. “The short- and long-term consequences of the pandemic on depression are still unclear, but these estimates are a necessary starting point to quantify the impact of the pandemic on mental health. that promote help-seeking, early intervention , prevention and education about depression are urgently needed.”