Depression - Epidemiology


 * Schizophrenia: Incidence
 * Schizophrenia: Prevalence
 * Schizophrenia: Morbidity
 * Schizophrenia: Mortality
 * Schizophrenia: Racial distribution
 * Schizophrenia: Age distribution
 * Schizophrenia: Sex distribution

Prevalence
Clinical depression affects about 16% of the population on at least one occasion in their lives. The mean age of onset, from a number of studies, is in the late 20s. About twice as many females as males report or receive treatment for clinical depression, though this imbalance is shrinking over the course of recent history; this difference seems to completely disappear after the age of 50 - 55, when most females have passed the end of menopause. Clinical depression is currently the leading cause of disability in the US as well as other countries, and is expected to become the second leading cause of disability worldwide (after heart disease) by the year 2020, according to the World Health Organization.