ReviewPloS one2013
Global epidemiology of mental disorders: what are we missing?
Review in PloS one, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 80 papers, 13 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
80 citing papers in PubMed, 13 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Theory of mind performance in depression: A meta-analysis.Journal of affective disorders · 2022Pooled it
- Prevalence of Mental Disorders in Uganda: a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.The Psychiatric quarterly · 2022Pooled it
- A Systematic Review of Circulatory microRNAs in Major Depressive Disorder: Potential Biomarkers for Disease Prognosis.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Pooled it
- The Role of Iron and Zinc in the Treatment of ADHD among Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Review of Randomized Clinical Trials.Nutrients · 2021Pooled it
- Prevalence and risk factors of postpartum depression in the Middle East: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2021Pooled it
- Estimating the risk of suicide associated with mental disorders: A systematic review and meta-regression analysis.Journal of psychiatric research · 2021Pooled it
- National and regional prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder in sub-Saharan Africa: A systematic review and meta-analysis.PLoS medicine · 2020Pooled it
- MicroRNAs expressed in depression and their associated pathways: A systematic review and a bioinformatics analysis.Journal of chemical neuroanatomy · 2019Pooled it
- Speech databases for mental disorders: A systematic review.General psychiatry · 2019Pooled it
- Prevalence of psychotic disorders and its association with methodological issues. A systematic review and meta-analyses.PloS one · 2018Pooled it
- The Role of Omega-3 Fatty Acids in Developmental Psychopathology: A Systematic Review on Early Psychosis, Autism, and ADHD.International journal of molecular sciences · 2017Pooled it
- Estimating the coverage of mental health programmes: a systematic review.International journal of epidemiology · 2014Pooled it
- The contribution of major depression to the global burden of ischemic heart disease: a comparative risk assessment.BMC medicine · 2013Pooled it
- Characteristics of participants and nonparticipants in a population based diagnostic survey of mental and substance use disorders. A follow-up study of the Trøndelag Health Study (HUNT).Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2026Article
- Assessing the association between combined oral contraceptive use, selected biomarkers, and depressive episodes among premenopausal women: a protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis.Systematic reviews · 2026Article
- Antidepressant effects of ershiwei roudoukou pills and its active ingredient Macelignan: Multiple mechanisms involving oxidative stress, neuroinflammation and synaptic plasticity.Translational psychiatry · 2025Article
- Deep learning-based stress detection from RR intervals in major depressive disorder, panic disorder, and healthy individuals.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
- Exploring psychotic symptoms among substance-naïve individuals and recent abstainers without a psychosis diagnosis: A cross-country study across Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, and South Africa.Psychiatry research · 2024Article
- Integrated Long Noncoding RNA and Messenger RNA Expression Analysis Identifies Molecules Specifically Associated With Resiliency and Susceptibility to Depression and Antidepressant Response.Biological psychiatry global open science · 2024Article
- Epidemiology of alcohol use disorder in the general population of Togo and Benin: the ALCOTRANS study.BMC public health · 2024Article
20 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundPopulation-based studies provide the understanding of health-need required for effective public health policy and service-planning. Mental disorders are an important but, until recently, neglected agenda in global health. This paper reviews the coverage and limitations in global epidemiological data for mental disorders and suggests strategies to strengthen the data.
methodsSystematic reviews were conducted for population-based epidemiological studies in mental disorders to inform new estimates for the global burden of disease study. Estimates of population coverage were calculated, adjusted for study parameters (age, gender and sampling frames) to quantify regional coverage.
resultsOf the 77,000 data sources identified, fewer than 1% could be used for deriving national estimates of prevalence, incidence, remission, and mortality in mental disorders. The two major limitations were (1) highly variable regional coverage, and (2) important methodological issues that prevented synthesis across studies, including the use of varying case definitions, the selection of samples not allowing generalization, lack of standardized indicators, and incomplete reporting. North America and Australasia had the most complete prevalence data for mental disorders while coverage was highly variable across Europe, Latin America, and Asia Pacific, and poor in other regions of Asia and Africa. Nationally-representative data for incidence, remission, and mortality were sparse across most of the world. DISCUSSION: Recent calls to action for global mental health were predicated on the high prevalence and disability of mental disorders. However, the global picture of disorders is inadequate for planning. Global data coverage is not commensurate with other important health problems, and for most of the world's population, mental disorders are invisible and remain a low priority.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.