Prevalence of Depression 18.5 Percent in U.S. Adults in 2020

THURSDAY, June 15, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- The age-standardized prevalence of depression was 18.5 percent among U.S. adults during 2020, according to research published in the June 16 issue of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Benjamin Lee, M.P.H., from the CDC in Atlanta, and colleagues used data from the 2020 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System to estimate the national, state-level, and county-level prevalence of U.S. adults reporting a lifetime diagnosis of depression.

The researchers found that the age-standardized prevalence of depression was 18.5 percent among adults during 2020, and varied from 12.7 to 27.5 percent among states, with most states with the highest prevalence in the Appalachian and southern Mississippi Valley regions. The model-based age-standardized prevalence of depression ranged from 10.7 to 31.9 percent among 3,143 counties (median, 21.8 percent), with most of the counties with the highest prevalence in the Appalachian region, the southern Mississippi Valley region, and Missouri, Oklahoma, and Washington.

"These estimates can help decision-makers guide resource allocation to areas where the need is greatest, which might include consideration of evidence-based interventions and practices," the authors write.

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