Size and burden of mental disorders in Europe--a critical review and appraisal of 27 studies.

By Hans-Ulrich Wittchen, F. Jacobi. European Neuropsychopharmacology, 2005

1,536 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Epidemiological data on a wide range of mental disorders from community studies conducted in European countries are presented to determine the availability and consistency of prevalence, disability and treatment findings for the EU. Using a stepwise multimethod approach, 27 eligible studies with quite variable designs and methods including over 150,000 subjects from 16 European countries were identified. Prevalence: On the basis of meta-analytic techniques as well as on reanalyses of selected data sets, it is estimated that about 27% (equals 82.7 million; 95% CI: 78.5-87.1) of the adult EU population, 18-65 of age, is or has been affected by at least one mental disorder in the past 12 months. Taking into account the considerable degree of comorbidity (about one third had more than one disorder), the most frequent disorders are anxiety disorders, depressive, somatoform and substance dependence disorders. When taking into account design, sampling and other methodological differences between studies, little evidence seems to exist for considerable cultural or country variation. Disability and treatment: despite very divergent and fairly crude assessment strategies, the available data consistently demonstrate (a) an association of all mental disorders with a considerable disability burden in terms of number of work days lost (WLD) and (b) generally low utilization and treatment rates. Only 26% of all cases had any consultation with professional health care services, a finding suggesting a considerable degree of unmet need. The paper highlights considerable future research needs for coordinated EU studies across all disorders and age groups. As prevalence estimates could not simply be equated with defined treatment needs, such studies should determine the degree of met and unmet needs for services by taking into account severity, disability and comorbidity. These needs are most pronounced for the new EU member states as well as more generally for adolescent and older populations.

Subfields: Clinical Psychology, Psychiatry and Mental health, Social Psychology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/11b297a96fd13e4e194d20b6175ebc81845d904b

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Citations in the corpus

Cost of disorders of the brain in Europe 2010. (2011, neutral): “In 2005, the European Brain Council published the results of a comprehensive study estimating the cost of disorders of the brain in Europe in 2004 (Andlin-Sobocki et al., 2005; Wittchen and Jacobi, 2005), below called the EBC2005 study.”
What is the impact of mental health-related stigma on help-seeking? A systematic review of quantitative and qualitative studies (2014, background): “In Europe and the USA, 52–74% of people with mental disorders do not receive treatment (Alonso et al. 2004; Kessler et al. 2005; Wittchen & Jacobi, 2005; Thornicroft, 2007).”
Long-term mental health of war-refugees: a systematic literature review (2015, result): “For example, compared with the general Western adult population [74–76], the review findings of higher quality studies indicate that refugees may be roughly up to 14 times more likely to have depression and 15 times more likely to have PTSD.”
Cost of disorders of the brain in Europe (2005, methodology): “…2005; Forsgren et al., 2005; Goodwin et al., 2005; Lieb et al., 2005; Paykel et al., 2005; Pini et al., 2005; Pugliatti et al., 2005; Rössler et al., 2005; Rehm et al., 2005a,b; Servadei et al., 2005; Stovner et al., 2005; Truelsen et al., 2005; Westphal et al., 2005; Wittchen and Jacobi, 2005) 3.”
Prevalence of antenatal and postnatal anxiety: Systematic review and meta-analysis (2017, background): “64,65 In interpreting the results, it is important to note that the majority of studies assessed anxiety using self-report instruments that measured anxiety symptoms rather than gold-standard diagnostic clinical interviews for various anxiety disorders.”
World Federation of Societies of Biological Psychiatry (WFSBP) Guidelines for the Pharmacological Treatment of Anxiety, Obsessive-Compulsive and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders – First Revision (2002, background): “Epidemiological data collected from a variety of countries have documented differences in prevalence rates for the anxiety disorders (Bandelow 2003; Wittchen and Jacobi 2005).”
The size and burden of mental disorders and other disorders of the brain in Europe 2010. (2011, methodology): “…conducted by the coordinating center with a restricted set of mental health disorders reported in Table 1, to estimate comorbidity rates, treatment rates, age and gender effects by diagnoses, and to provide an overall estimate of having any disorder (for details, see Wittchen and Jacobi, 2005).”
Epidemiology of anxiety disorders. (2010, background): “A number of recent literature reviews have presented detailed summary tables of prevalence estimates for individual anxiety disorders across many epidemiological surveys (Fehm et al. 2005; Goodwin et al. 2005; Lépine 2002; Lieb 2005; Lieb et al. 2005; Wittchen and Jacobi 2005).”
OECD. Sick on the job? Myths and realities about mental health and work. (2012, background): “(2005), “The Hidden Costs of Mental Illness”, Upper Bay Counselling and Support Services, Elkton. Cook, J. (2006), “Employment Barriers for Persons with Psychiatric Disabilities: Update of a Report for the President’s Commission”, Psychiatric Services, Vol. 57, pp. 1391-1405. Gaebel, W. and W. Wölwe”