Global burden of depressive disorders: The issue of duration

From a scientific point of view, the GBD study is a ‘meta-synthesis’ of epidemiological information concerning incidence, prevalence, duration, severity, associated disability, age of onset, course and treatment rates of major diseases as well as mortality due to these conditions. The GBD 1996 results were generally accepted, but calculations for depressive disorders remained debatable: episode incidence was modelled for women as 0.29% and for men 0.16%; episode average age at onset was 37.1 years, with an average episode duration of 6 months (Murray & Lopez, 1996: pp. 601-606). [...]the duration figure of 6 months was based mainly on clinical textbook knowledge. FUTURE RESEARCH RECOMMENDATIONS In epidemiological modelling, the devil is always in the methodological detail. (a) Mental health epidemiology has largely relied on ‘lifetime’ prevalence estimates.