World’s Burden Of Mental Disorders More Than Doubled Since 1990

Mental disorders are now the leading cause of disability
globally, overtaking cancer and cardiovascular disease, new
research has found.

The study, conducted by The
University of Queensland, University of Washington and
Queensland Centre for Mental Health Research (QCMHR), found
nearly 1.2 billion people worldwide were living with a
mental disorder in 2023, nearly double the number in
1990.

Associate
Professor Damian Santomauro, from UQ’s School
of Public Health and QCMHR, said researchers examined
the health burden of 12 mental disorders – including
anxiety disorders, major depression, bipolar disorder,
schizophrenia, autism spectrum disorders, ADHD, and eating
disorders – and assessed global trends between 1990 to
2023.

Dr Santomauro said researchers used the
Disability-Adjusted Life Year (DALY) metric to analyse
mental disorder burden, where one DALY equals one healthy
year of life lost.

“Mental disorders have been a
leading cause of DALYs globally for decades, but these
findings show we are entering an even more concerning phase
of worsening mental disorder burden,’’ he
said.

“When compared with other disease groups,
mental disorders were the fifth leading cause of DALYs in
2023, up from 12th in 1990, led mostly by increases in
anxiety disorders and major depression.

“We observed
increases in DALY rates in all world regions, but they were
strongest in Australasia and Western sub-Saharan
Africa.

“We also found the burden of mental disorder
peaked amongst youth aged 15-19 years old, and women had
higher rates than men.’’

Honorary
Associate Professor Alize Ferrari from UQ’s School of
Public Health said the findings show the response to mental
disorders globally is not sufficient.

“It doesn’t
matter whether you’re from a resource poor country, or a
country with more health resources available, the burden is
high,” Dr Ferrari said.

“We need more research,
but there are many factors likely contributing to the global
trends observed including data quality and
availability.

“There are also risk factors for
mental disorders likely at play including those related to
child maltreatment, domestic violence, genetics, rising
inequality, decline in social cohesiveness, impact of
climate change, pandemics, war and natural
disasters.

“We need a significant shift in how we
respond to mental disorders globally, with better
surveillance and more coordinated policy action to reduce
the burden through early treatment and
prevention.”

This study used data from the Global
Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2023,
which is led by the Institute for Health Metrics and
Evaluation at the University of Washington in collaboration
with the Queensland Centre for Mental Health Research
(Queensland Health) and UQ, with funding from the Gates
Foundation.

Read
the research published in The
Lancet.

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