Over 90% surveyed with depressive disorders in China fail to seek treatment: study

Depressive Disorders Photo: VCG

More than 90 percent of people with depressive disorder surveyed in China are untreatable, and only 0.5 percent have received adequate treatment, according to a new mental health survey of Chinese citizens.

The results of the study on Mental Disorder Exposure and Health Service Use in China, also known as the China Mental Health Survey, were announced at a conference and expert forum in Beijing on Sunday. The study, which lasted three years, examined the prevalence of mental disorders and their distribution characteristics among adults in the Chinese community, highlighting the current situation of low use of health services and poor access to adequate treatment for people with depressive disorders in China.

The study found that in China, the prevalence of depressive disorder is higher in women than in men; higher among housewives, pensioners and the unemployed than among the employed; higher for separated, widowed or divorced persons than for married or cohabiting persons; and more common in older age groups, in a cross-sectional epidemiological study of mental disorders in Chinese adults of 28,140 respondents (12,537 men and 15,603 women) completed at 157 nationally representative disease surveillance centers in 31 provincial-level regions in China.

The lifetime prevalence of depressive disorder in Chinese adults was 6.8 percent below that of the world, including 3.4 percent for depression, 1.4 percent for dysphoric disorders, and 3.2 percent for unspecified depressive disorders. The 12-month prevalence of depressive disorder was 3.6 percent, including 2.1 percent for depression, 1.0 percent for premenstrual dysphoric disorder, and 1.4 percent for unspecified depressive disorder, the research shows.

The study provided the first nationwide representative epidemiological data on depressive disorders in China and is expected to play an important role in formulating and adapting national mental health policies and in advancing the treatment of patients with depressive disorders. The results were published in the leading international medical journal The Lancet.

This study is groundbreaking research as it provides the first national data on the epidemiological prevalence, distribution characteristics, and access to treatment status of depressive disorder in adults in China, which is an important reference for determining mental health strategies from clinical health service use is perspective, Wang Yu, former director of the China Center for Disease Control and Prevention, told the forum.

Lu Jin, lead author of the paper, told the Global Times during the forum that the prevalence of depressive disorder in China is low by global standards, due to many factors.

“The fact that many Chinese people have difficulty expressing emotions (alexithymia) could be one of the causes of this status,” said Lu. “There is also a link between socio-economic development and depressive disorders, a condition associated with psychosocial disorders.”

source https://www.bisayanews.com/2021/09/26/over-90-surveyed-with-depressive-disorders-in-china-fail-to-seek-treatment-study/