Epidemiology of Major Depressive Disorder in Mainland China: a Systematic Review

Overview

Journal PLoS One

Specialties General Medicine
Science

Date 2013 Jun 21

PMID 23785419

Citations 84

Authors

Lian Gu

Juanjuan Xie

Jianxiong Long

Qing Chen

Qiang Chen

Runde Pan

Yan Yan

Guangliang Wu

Baoyun Liang

Jinjing Tan

Xinfeng Xie

Bo Wei

Li Su

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Background: Major depressive disorder (MDD) is one of the important causes of disease burden in the general population. Given the experiencing rapid economic and social changes since the early 1990s and the internationally recognized diagnostic criteria and interview instruments across the surveys during 2001-2010 in china, the epidemiological studies on MDD got varied results. We performed this meta-analysis to investigate current, 12-month and lifetime prevalence rates of MDD in mainland China.

Methods: PubMed, Embase, Chinese Biological Medical Literature database (CBM), Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure database (CNKI), and the Chinese Wanfang and Chongqing VIP database were searched for associated studies. We estimated the overall prevalence of MDD using meta-analysis.

Conclusions: Seventeen eligible studies were included. Our study showed that the overall estimation of current, 12-month and lifetime prevalence of MDD was 1.6, 2.3, 3.3%, respectively. The current prevalence was 2.0 and 1.7% in rural and urban areas, respectively; between female and male, it was 2.1 and 1.3%, respectively. In addition, the current prevalence of MDD diagnosed with SCID (Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV) was 1.8% and that diagnosed with CIDI (Composite International Diagnostic Interview) was 1.1%. In conclusion, our study revealed a relatively high prevalence rate in the lifetime prevalence of MDD. For current prevalence, MDD diagnosed with SCID had a higher prevalence rate than with CIDI; males showed a lower rate than females, rural residents seemed to have a greater risk of MDD than urban residents.

Citing Articles

Gender differences in clinical correlates of glucose disturbance in patients with first-episode and drug-naïve major depressive disorder.

Chen S, Zhou J, Lang X, Zhang X Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci. 2025; .

PMID: 39998567 DOI: 10.1007/s00406-025-01980-7.

The Association Between Posting WeChat Moments and the Risk of Depressive Symptoms Among Middle-Aged and Older Chinese Adults: Prospective National Cohort Study.

Wang W, Wang H, Hu X, Yu Q, Chen F, Qiu X JMIR Public Health Surveill. 2025; 11():e62730.

PMID: 39815395 PMC: 11745077. DOI: 10.2196/62730.

The incidence and influencing factors of recent suicide attempts in major depressive disorder patients comorbid with moderate-to-severe anxiety: a large-scale cross-sectional study.

Ren L, Dong Y, Zhou X, Zhang C, Gao J, Li L BMC Psychiatry. 2025; 25(1):31.

PMID: 39789491 PMC: 11714804. DOI: 10.1186/s12888-025-06472-5.

Anhedonia in Major Depressive Disorder: Prevalence and Treatment Expectations and Satisfaction with Treatment Goals Among Patients and Physicians in Asia-Pacific.

Herr K, Berk M, Huang W, Kato T, Lee J, Ng C Neuropsychiatr Dis Treat. 2024; 20:2177-2191.

PMID: 39588177 PMC: 11586272. DOI: 10.2147/NDT.S487747.

Depression in the schistosomiasis japonica population based on the PHQ-9 scale: a cross-sectional survey from Jiangxi Province, China.

Hu A, Liu D, Xie H, Wu X, Liu K, Zhang X Sci Rep. 2024; 14(1):24323.

PMID: 39414883 PMC: 11484880. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-74510-5.

References

Weich S, Araya R . International and regional variation in the prevalence of common mental disorders: do we need more surveys?. Br J Psychiatry. 2004; 184:289-90. DOI: 10.1192/bjp.184.4.289. View

Lu J, Ruan Y, Huang Y, Yao J, Dang W, Gao C . Major depression in Kunming: prevalence, correlates and co-morbidity in a south-western city of China. J Affect Disord. 2008; 111(2-3):221-6. DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2008.02.018. View

Kawakami N, Takeshima T, Ono Y, Uda H, Hata Y, Nakane Y . Twelve-month prevalence, severity, and treatment of common mental disorders in communities in Japan: preliminary finding from the World Mental Health Japan Survey 2002-2003. Psychiatry Clin Neurosci. 2005; 59(4):441-52. DOI: 10.1111/j.1440-1819.2005.01397.x. View

Phillips M, Liu H, Zhang Y . Suicide and social change in China. Cult Med Psychiatry. 1999; 23(1):25-50. DOI: 10.1023/a:1005462530658. View

Sadeghirad B, Haghdoost A, Amin-Esmaeili M, Ananloo E, Ghaeli P, Rahimi-Movaghar A . Epidemiology of major depressive disorder in iran: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Int J Prev Med. 2011; 1(2):81-91. PMC: 3075476. View

Parker G, Gladstone G, Chee K . Depression in the planet's largest ethnic group: the Chinese. Am J Psychiatry. 2001; 158(6):857-64. DOI: 10.1176/appi.ajp.158.6.857. View

Shen Y, Zhang M, Huang Y, He Y, Liu Z, Cheng H . Twelve-month prevalence, severity, and unmet need for treatment of mental disorders in metropolitan China. Psychol Med. 2005; 36(2):257-67. DOI: 10.1017/S0033291705006367. View

Wang P, Aguilar-Gaxiola S, Alonso J, Angermeyer M, Borges G, Bromet E . Use of mental health services for anxiety, mood, and substance disorders in 17 countries in the WHO world mental health surveys. Lancet. 2007; 370(9590):841-50. PMC: 2847360. DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(07)61414-7. View

Chen X, Cheng H, Huang Y, Liu Z, Luo X . Depression symptoms and chronic pain in the community population in Beijing, China. Psychiatry Res. 2012; 200(2-3):313-7. DOI: 10.1016/j.psychres.2012.04.013. View

10.

Andrade L, Caraveo-Anduaga J, Berglund P, Bijl R, de Graaf R, Vollebergh W . The epidemiology of major depressive episodes: results from the International Consortium of Psychiatric Epidemiology (ICPE) Surveys. Int J Methods Psychiatr Res. 2003; 12(1):3-21. PMC: 6878531. DOI: 10.1002/mpr.138. View

11.

Kleinman A . Neurasthenia and depression: a study of somatization and culture in China. Cult Med Psychiatry. 1982; 6(2):117-90. DOI: 10.1007/BF00051427. View

12.

Murray C, Lopez A . Alternative projections of mortality and disability by cause 1990-2020: Global Burden of Disease Study. Lancet. 1997; 349(9064):1498-504. DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(96)07492-2. View

13.

Ma X, Xiang Y, Cai Z, Li S, Xiang Y, Guo H . Prevalence and socio-demographic correlates of major depressive episode in rural and urban areas of Beijing, China. J Affect Disord. 2008; 115(3):323-30. DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2008.09.010. View

14.

Ahmadvand A, Sepehrmanesh Z, Ghoreishi F, Afshinmajd S . Prevalence of psychiatric disorders in the general population of Kashan, Iran. Arch Iran Med. 2012; 15(4):205-9. DOI: 012154/AIM.006. View

15.

Dunlop D, Song J, Lyons J, Manheim L, Chang R . Racial/ethnic differences in rates of depression among preretirement adults. Am J Public Health. 2003; 93(11):1945-52. PMC: 1199525. DOI: 10.2105/ajph.93.11.1945. View

16.

Gonzalez H, Tarraf W, Whitfield K, Vega W . The epidemiology of major depression and ethnicity in the United States. J Psychiatr Res. 2010; 44(15):1043-51. PMC: 2963677. DOI: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2010.03.017. View

17.

Kuehner C . Gender differences in unipolar depression: an update of epidemiological findings and possible explanations. Acta Psychiatr Scand. 2003; 108(3):163-74. DOI: 10.1034/j.1600-0447.2003.00204.x. View

18.

Blazer D, Kessler R, McGonagle K, Swartz M . The prevalence and distribution of major depression in a national community sample: the National Comorbidity Survey. Am J Psychiatry. 1994; 151(7):979-86. DOI: 10.1176/ajp.151.7.979. View

19.

Ohayon M, Priest R, Guilleminault C, CAULET M . The prevalence of depressive disorders in the United Kingdom. Biol Psychiatry. 1999; 45(3):300-7. DOI: 10.1016/s0006-3223(98)00011-0. View

20.

Haro J, Arbabzadeh-Bouchez S, Brugha T, de Girolamo G, Guyer M, Jin R . Concordance of the Composite International Diagnostic Interview Version 3.0 (CIDI 3.0) with standardized clinical assessments in the WHO World Mental Health surveys. Int J Methods Psychiatr Res. 2007; 15(4):167-80. PMC: 6878271. DOI: 10.1002/mpr.196. View