Summary: A new Columbia University analysis shows depression burden in the United States is highest among women, adolescents and young adults, while treatment levels remain low.
Source: Columbia University
A recent study by researchers at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and the City University of New York reports widespread increases in depression across the United States without equivalent increases in treatment. The analysis finds that, in 2020, nearly 1 in 10 Americans experienced a major depressive episode in the past 12 months, with rates approaching 1 in 5 for adolescents and young adults.
The study’s findings, which will be published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, draw on data from the 2015–2020 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, a nationally representative survey of U.S. residents aged 12 and older. Major depression is the most common mental health disorder in the U.S. and a major risk factor for suicidal behavior. Prior population estimates showed an increase in depression from 6.6 percent in 2005 to 7.3 percent in 2015; this new analysis extends and updates those trends through 2020.
Lead author Renee D. Goodwin, PhD, an adjunct professor in the Department of Epidemiology at Columbia Mailman School of Public Health and professor of epidemiology at The City University of New York, notes that the study confirms accelerating increases in depression from 2015 through 2019. “These patterns indicate a public health crisis that was intensifying in the U.S. even before the onset of the pandemic,” Goodwin said. The researchers emphasize that efforts to achieve parity and increase public awareness have not yet translated into equitable access to treatment for depression.
Key results show an overall past-year prevalence of major depressive episodes of 9 percent among Americans aged 12 and older in 2020. The prevalence was substantially higher for younger age groups: slightly more than 17 percent among young adults aged 18–25 and 16.9 percent among adolescents aged 12–17. The most rapid increases were observed among adolescents and young adults, while prevalence among adults aged 35 and older remained relatively unchanged.
The rise in depression affected nearly all gender, racial and ethnic, income, and education groups, but the highest prevalence was concentrated among those with the lowest household incomes. Non-Hispanic white individuals had higher prevalence compared with other racial and ethnic groups in the study. Depression rates were consistently higher among women than men and were elevated among adults who were not currently or previously married.
Despite rising prevalence, the study found help-seeking for depression remained consistently low across the study period. Goodwin highlights a particularly concerning finding: most adolescents with depression neither discussed their symptoms with a healthcare professional nor received pharmacologic treatment between 2015 and 2020. The authors warn that untreated depression early in life is linked to greater risk of additional mental health problems later on, making these trends especially troubling.
The authors stress that the short- and long-term mental health consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic are not yet fully known, but these updated estimates provide an essential baseline for measuring the pandemic’s impact on depression in the population. They call for expanded, evidence-based, community-facing public campaigns that promote help-seeking, early intervention, prevention, and education about depression—measures that are urgently needed to curb the growing public health burden.
Co-authors on the paper include Lisa Dierker (Wesleyan University); Melody Wu (Columbia Mailman School of Public Health); Sandro Galea (Boston University School of Public Health); Christina Hoven (Columbia Mailman School, New York State Psychiatric Institute, and Department of Psychiatry, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia); and Andrea H. Weinberger (Yeshiva University and Albert Einstein College of Medicine).
About this depression research news
Author: Stephanie Berger
Source: Columbia University
Contact: Stephanie Berger – Columbia University
Image: The image is in the public domain
Original Research: The findings will appear in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine