Study: Global mental health burden has doubled since 1990

Sydney — Mental disorders have become the leading global cause of disability, surpassing cancer and cardiovascular disease, according to a statement from the University of Queensland (UQ) in Australia on Friday 22 May. The study, led by the Queensland Centre for Mental Health Research at UQ and the University of Washington in the United States, found that nearly 1.2 billion people worldwide lived with a mental health disorder in 2023, almost double the number recorded in 1990. ‘The burden of mental disorders reaches its peak among adolescents aged 15–19, and women have higher rates than men,’ said Damian Santomauro, senior lecturer in the School of Public Health at UQ. The study, published in The Lancet, assesses the health burden of 12 conditions, including anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and eating disorders, and tracks global trends from 1990 to 2023. The researchers used disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) to analyse the burden of mental disorders, where one DALY equals one lost year of healthy life. Mental disorders ranked fifth as a cause of DALYs in 2023, up from 12th in 1990, largely driven by increases in anxiety disorders and major depressive disorder, according to the study. The researchers attribute the trend to a combination of factors, including child abuse, domestic violence, genetics, rising inequality, climate change, the pandemic and conflicts, as well as the quality and availability of data.