ArticleBMC public health2020
The prevalence of mental distress and the association with education: a cross-sectional study of 18-49-year-old citizens of Yangon Region, Myanmar.
Article in BMC public health, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers.
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12 citing papers in PubMed, 27 citations in OpenAlex.
- Conflict, mental health, and labor productivity: evidence from hired farm workers in Myanmar.BMC global and public health · 2026Article
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- Spatial patterns and determinants of anxiety, depressive symptoms and their co-occurrence among currently married women of reproductive age in Bangladesh.Global mental health (Cambridge, England) · 2026Article
- The Suppression of Depression as Multimediation: Psychiatric Diagnoses Under Myanmar's Military Dictatorship.Culture, medicine and psychiatry · 2025Article
- A pathway study of factors influencing anxiety in patients with gestational diabetes mellitus.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2025Article
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- Empowering health workers and leveraging digital technology to improve access to mental health and epilepsy care: A longitudinal quasi-experimental study in Hlaing Thar Yar Township.The Lancet regional health. Southeast Asia · 2022Article
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- Factors associated with psychological distress among Myanmar residents during COVID-19 pandemic crises.Journal of public health research · 2021Article
- Psychosocial stress, sleep deprivation, and its impact on type II diabetes mellitus: Policies, guidelines, and initiatives from Malaysia.FASEB bioAdvances · 2021Review
- Psychological and Demographic Determinants of Substance Use and Mental Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic.Frontiers in public healthArticle
- Quality of online news reporting of suicidal behavior in Myanmar: Adherence to the World Health Organization reporting guidelines.Indian journal of psychiatryArticle
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
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No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundPoor mental health is an important contributor to the global burden of disease. Mental health problems are often neglected in communities, and are scarcely studied in developing countries, including Myanmar. This study estimates the prevalence of mental distress by socio-demographic and health related factors, and the association between education and mental distress. As far as the authors are aware, this is the first population-based study in Myanmar estimating the prevalence of mental distress.
methodsBetween October and November 2016, a cross sectional study was conducted using a multi-stage sampling design with face-to-face interviews using the Hopkins Symptom Checklist (HSCL-10) for mental distress (symptoms of depression and anxiety). The multivariable analysis strategy was based on Directed Acyclic Graphs (DAGs), to identify confounders, mediators and colliders. Pearson's chi-square was used for testing differences between proportions and multiple linear regression analysis was applied to explore the association between education (years at school) and mental distress (HSCL score).
resultsA random sample of 2391 (99.6% response) men and women aged 18-49 years participated in the study. The prevalence of mental distress was 18.0% (95% confidence interval (CI): 14.7-21.9), being higher among women (21.2%; 95% (CI): 16.6-26.6) than men (14.9%; 95% (CI): 11.4-19.2). Older-age, being separated or divorced and having a higher number of children were associated with increased mental distress. In linear regression analyses, adjusted for confounders (age, marital status and income), there was a significant negative association between years at school and mental distress among women and older men (> 30 years), but not among the youngest men.
conclusionsThe prevalence of mental distress is high, and there is an association between HSCL-10 score and education. Due to the scarcity of mental health services in Myanmar, the findings indicate a need for a mental health policy to handle the burden of mental health problems in Yangon, a burden which is probably high within the country.
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