Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40375174›Full record

ArticleBMC psychiatry2025

Global burden of mental disorders in 204 countries and territories, 1990-2021: results from the global burden of disease study 2021.

Yangyan Fan, Ahui Fan, Zhiping Yang, Daiming Fan

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Article in BMC psychiatry, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 107 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
107citing 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.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

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

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  13. The global cost of schizophrenia: a health economic modelling study.International journal of mental health systems · 2026
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47 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Yangyan Fan *School of Management, Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, 030001, China.
Ahui Fan *State Key Laboratory of Holistic Integrative Management of Gastrointestinal Cancers and National Clinical Research Center for Digestive Diseases, Xijing Hospital of Digestive Diseases, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, 710032, China.
Zhiping YangState Key Laboratory of Holistic Integrative Management of Gastrointestinal Cancers and National Clinical Research Center for Digestive Diseases, Xijing Hospital of Digestive Diseases, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, 710032, China. zpyang@fmmu.edu.cn.
Daiming FanSchool of Management, Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, 030001, China. fandaim@fmmu.edu.cn.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundMental disorders, one of the leading causes of the global health-related burden, which has been exacerbated by the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic (2019-2021). In this study, we aim to provide global, regional, and national estimates of the mental disorders burden from 1990 to 2021, including during the COVID-19.

methodsWe collected data from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021 (GBD 2021) on the incidence, disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), age-standardized incidence rate (ASIR), and age-standardized DALY rate (ASR) of 12 mental disorders from 204 countries and regions. The socio-demographic index (SDI) was used to evaluate the correlation between mental disorders burden and different regions. We utilized joinpoint regression analysis to estimate the average annual percentage change (AAPC).

resultsIn 2021, there were 444,397,716 incident cases and 155,418,119 DALYs globally from mental disorders. From 1990 to 2021, there was an upward trend in both ASIR [15.23% (12.97-17.60%)] and ASR [17.28% (15.06-19.44%)]. In 2021, the highest ASIR was observed in Central Sub-Saharan Africa (8706.11), while the lowest was in East Asia (3340.99). Australia (2787.87) had the highest ASR. Nationally, Greenland, Greece, the United States, and Australia had the highest ASRs. During the COVID-19 pandemic, aside from East Asia, both the ASIR showed an upward trend in the five SDI and other GBD regions. In 2021, the ASR for females was higher than that for males. Among the 12 subtypes, major depressive disorder (557.87) and anxiety disorders (524.33) had the highest ASR. Major depressive disorder ranked first in ASR in 13 of the 21 regions worldwide. Despite the overall upward trend in DALYs for mental disorders [AAPC: 5.96; 95%CI: (4.99, 6.92)], the ASR exhibited varying trends among different subtypes, with anxiety disorders experiencing the most significant increase.

conclusionsGBD 2021 showed that the burden of mental disorders has increased over the past three decades, with notable regional disparities. High SDI regions and females should be paid more attention. To alleviate future burdens, providing comprehensive mental health support, establishing effective mental health knowledge dissemination and tailored interventions are in great need. CLINICAL TRIAL NUMBER: Not applicable.

Indexed as

COVID-19Global Burden of DiseaseGlobal HealthMental DisordersAdultDisability-Adjusted Life YearsFemaleHumansIncidenceMaleMiddle AgedDisability-adjusted life yearsGlobal burden of diseaseIncidenceMental disorders

Identifiers

PMID40375174
PMCPMC12080068

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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.