Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33961802›Full record

ArticleThe Lancet. Public health2021

Prevalence and variability of current depressive disorder in 27 European countries: a population-based study.

Jorge Arias-de la Torre, Gemma Vilagut, Amy Ronaldson, Antoni Serrano-Blanco, Vicente Martín, Michele Peters, Jose M Valderas, Alex Dregan, Jordi Alonso

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Article in The Lancet. Public health, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 144 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
144citing papers in PubMed, 6 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

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3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

144 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

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  13. Psychological interventions for depression during post-acute inpatient rehabilitation after traumatic or non-traumatic spinal injury: a matched-case control study.European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2026
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  18. Influence ofPharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026
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84 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors.

Jorge Arias-de la TorreDepartment of Psychological Medicine, Division of Academic Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK; CIBER Epidemiology and Public Health, Madrid, Spain. Electronic address: jorge.arias_de_la_torre@kcl.ac.uk.
Gemma VilagutCIBER Epidemiology and Public Health, Madrid, Spain; Health Services Research Group, Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute, Barcelona, Spain.
Amy RonaldsonDepartment of Psychological Medicine, Division of Academic Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.
Antoni Serrano-BlancoCIBER Epidemiology and Public Health, Madrid, Spain; Institut de Recerca Sant Joan de Déu, Parc Sanitari Sant Joan de Déu, Barcelona, Spain.
Vicente MartínCIBER Epidemiology and Public Health, Madrid, Spain; Institute of Biomedicine (IBIOMED), Universidad de León, León, Spain.
Michele PetersNuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
Jose M ValderasHealth Services and Policy Research Group, Exeter Collaboration for Academic Primary Care (APEx), NIHR School for Primary Care Research, NIHR Applied Research Collaboration South West Peninsula (PenARC), University of Exeter, Exeter, UK.
Alex DreganDepartment of Psychological Medicine, Division of Academic Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.
Jordi AlonsoCIBER Epidemiology and Public Health, Madrid, Spain; Health Services Research Group, Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute, Barcelona, Spain; Department of Experimental and Health Sciences, Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona, Spain.

Funding

Medical Research Council MR/S028188/1
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundWe aimed to estimate the prevalence of current depressive disorder in 27 European countries, and to explore differences in prevalence between European countries and by gender.

methodsIn this population-based study, we analysed data from respondents living in 27 European countries who were included in the second wave of the European Health Interview Survey, collected between 2013 and 2015. We assessed the prevalence of current depressive disorder using the eight-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-8), with depressive disorder defined as a PHQ-8 score of 10 or higher. Prevalence estimates and 95% CIs were calculated for all 27 countries overall and for each country individually. We assessed variation in prevalence (country vs the rest of Europe) using crude and adjusted prevalence ratios obtained from negative binomial regression models. We did all analyses for the total sample and stratified by gender.

findingsOur analysis sample comprised 258 888 individuals, of whom 117 310 (weighted proportion 47·8%) were men and 141 578 (52·2%) were women. The overall prevalence of current depressive disorder was 6·38% (95% CI 6·24-6·52) with important variation across countries, ranging from 2·58% (2·14-3·02) in the Czech Republic to 10·33% (9·33-11·32) in Iceland. Prevalence was higher in women (7·74% [7·53-7·95]) than in men (4·89% [4·71-5·08]), with clear gender differences for all countries except Finland and Croatia. Compared with the other European countries in our sample, those with the highest adjusted prevalence ratios were Germany (1·80 [1·71-1·89]) and Luxembourg (1·50 [1·35-1·66]), and those with the lowest adjusted prevalence ratios were Slovakia (0·28 [0·24-0·33]) and the Czech Republic (0·32 [0·27-0·38]).

interpretationDepressive disorders, although common across Europe, vary substantially in prevalence between countries. These results could be a baseline for monitoring the prevalence of current depressive disorder both at a country level in Europe and for planning health-care resources and services.

fundingUK Medical Research Council and CIBER Epidemiology and Public Health (CIBERESP).

Indexed as

Health Status DisparitiesAdolescentAdultAgedDepressive DisorderEuropeFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedPrevalenceSex DistributionYoung Adult

Identifiers

PMID33961802
PMCPMC8460452

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Registered trials

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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.