A Lancet study, part of the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2023, examined trends in 12 mental disorders, finding them globally prevalent and leading causes of disease burden. In 2023, there were 1.17 billion prevalent cases, a 95.5% increase since 1990, with age-standardized prevalence rising 24.2%.
Anxiety and major depressive disorder were the largest contributors, significantly exacerbated by COVID-19. Females and individuals aged 15-19 years were most impacted—a surprising shift from historical middle-age peaks. The study calls for stronger surveillance, early prevention strategies addressing social determinants, and increased access to diverse, evidence-based treatments and inclusive policies globally.
A new study published in The Lancet looked at updated trends in the global prevalence and burden of mental disorders.
“The global burden of disease (GBD) study 2023 assessed the health loss associated with over 350 diseases and injuries,” study author Alize Ferrari told us. “In our study, we focused on assessing GBD results for 12 mental disorders to asses trends in their global distribution and health loss they produce when compared to other diseases and injuries.“
The researchers’ aim was exploratory. Previous iterations of the GBD had already identified mental disorders as leading contributors to the global burden of disease.
“From 2020 onwards, this burden increased further due to rising prevalence of major depressive disorder and anxiety disorders associated with the COVID-19 pandemic,” Ferrari told us. “The pandemic slowed the already insufficient progress being made toward how health systems were responding to the burden imposed by mental disorders.”
In this study, the researchers sought to examine emerging trends in the prevalence and burden of mental disorders across time, location, age, sex, and year, particularly as populations recovered from the pandemic and adapted to living with COVID-19 as an ongoing infectious disease. Monitoring progress in mental health requires timely and up-to-date epidemiological data to track the distribution of mental disorders across populations and to ensure that emerging trends are identified and addressed appropriately.
“We conducted comprehensive literature reviews to assemble high quality epidemiological data for 12 mental disorders,” Ferrari told us. “We used this data to estimate the prevalence of each disorder across location, age, sex, and year and used this to produce various burden of disease metrics, namely the disability-adjusted life year (DALY). We used the DALY metric to benchmark the health loss imposed by mental disorders against health loss imposed by other diseases and injuries across both sexes, 25 age groups, 204 countries and territories, from 1990 to 2023.”
The researchers concluded that mental disorders were prevalent conditions globally and were leading causes of disease burden in all countries and territories. Anxiety disorders and major depressive disorder were the mental disorders contributing to the largest proportion of disease burden. Females, and individuals aged between 15 and 19 years were most impacted by mental disorders.
“While we expected the prevalence and burden of mental disorders to have increased over time, we were surprised at the size of this increase,” Ferrari told us. „We estimated that there were 1·17 billion prevalent cases of mental disorders globally in 2023 which represented a 95·5% increase in prevalent cases and more importantly, a 24·2% increase in age-standardized prevalence rate between 1990 and 2023.”
The researchers were also surprised to see the prevalence peak in the 15-19 year old age group which was largely driven by the higher rates of major depressive disorder and anxiety disorders in this age group.
“Historically, we have observed prevalence and burden peaking later, around the middle-age,” Ferrari told us. “Our findings highlight the substantial health burden imposed by mental disorders worldwide. They call for stronger surveillance systems, to identify individuals with mental disorders as early as possible, particularly in low-income and middle-income countries.”
The research team also believes the study results call for greater emphasis on prevention strategies that address early-life risk factors and the broader social determinants of poor mental health
“The results also call for increased access to evidence based treatment options, including a wider range of psychosocial interventions, delivered by a more diverse workforce of service providers and frontline workers,” Ferrari told us, “ as well as more coordinated and inclusive policies tailored to differences in age, sex, and location.”
Categories: Anxiety , Depression , Mental Health Awareness | Tags: anxiety, depression, mental health
Patricia Tomasi is a mom, maternal mental health advocate, journalist, and speaker. She writes regularly for the Huffington Post Canada, focusing primarily on maternal mental health after suffering from severe postpartum anxiety twice. You can find her Huffington Post biography here. Patricia is also a Patient Expert Advisor for the North American-based, Maternal Mental Health Research Collective and is the founder of the online peer support group – Facebook Postpartum Depression & Anxiety Support Group – with over 1500 members worldwide. Blog: www.patriciatomasiblog.wordpress.com
Email: tomasi.patricia@gmail.com
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