DEPRESSION IN THE COMMUNITY - THE FIRST PAN-EUROPEAN STUDY DEPRES (DEPRESSION RESEARCH IN EUROPEAN-SOCIETY)

DEPRES (Depression Research in European Society) is the first large pa n-European survey of depression in the community. A total of 13 359 of the 78 463 adults who participated in screening interviews across six countries were identified as suffering from depression, a 6-month pre valence of 17%. Major depression accounted for 6.9% of the cases of de pression and minor depression for 1.8%. Depressed subjects in both the se categories perceived that their working or social lives were substa ntially impaired by depressive symptoms. The remaining 8.3% of depress ed subjects considered that their functional impairment was not substa ntial. A significant proportion of sufferers from depression (43%) fai led to seek treatment for their depressive symptoms. Of those who did seek help (57%), most consulted a primary care physician, the frequenc y of consultation increasing with the severity of depression. Sufferer s fi om major depression imposed the greatest demand on healthcare res ources, making almost three times as many visits to their GP or family doctor as non-sufferers (4.4 vs 1.5 visits over 6 months). More than two-thirds of depressed subjects (69%) were not prescribed any treatme nt and when drug therapy was prescribed (31%), only 25% of these subje cts were given antidepressant drugs. The number of days of work lost d ue to illness increased with the severity of depression. Major depress ion had most impact on productive work, with sufferers losing four tim es as many working days over 6 months as non-sufferers. The results of the DEPRES survey confirm the high prevalence of depression in the co mmunity and the burden imposed on the individual sufferer in terms of impaired quality of life and on society in terms of healthcare utiliza tion and lost productivity.