Trend in the prevalence of depression and correlates in Brazil: results from the National Health Surveys 2013 and 2019

Abstract

This study aims to evaluate national variation in depression prevalence overall and in different socioeconomic and demographic groups, health behaviors, and macro-regions of the country, between 2013 and 2019. Data were obtained from the National Health Surveys – PNS 2013 and 2019, which are cross-sectional surveys of the Brazilian general population. Participants aged 18 years and older included 60,202 individuals in 2013 and 88,531 in 2019. Depression was evaluated through the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9). Calculations were carried out population-weighted. Additional age-standardized analyses were conducted to account for demographic changes. The results showed that in the six-year period between the two surveys, the prevalence of depression in Brazil increased by 36.7%, going from 7.9% in 2013 to 10.8% in 2019, this increase is more marked among young adults, 18 to 24 years old, who were not working, where there was a significant and almost three-fold absolute difference increase in the prevalence of depression (3.7 in 2013 and 10.3 in 2019), an increase of 178.4%. Those living in urban areas of the country had a greater increase in the prevalence of depression in the six-year period (39.8%) when compared to residents in rural areas (20.2%). There was an increase in the prevalence of depression between 2013 and 2019 for the worst categories of the three health behaviors under study, for both sexes: heavy drinking, smoking, and lack of physical activity, following the pattern observed for the general population. Our results show evidence of a significant increase in the prevalence of depression over the six-year period between the two surveys, mainly among the younger and unemployed men. The country´s economic context of recession during this period may be an explanation for this finding.