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Treatment Rate for Major Depressive Disorder in China: a Meta-Analysis of Epidemiological Studies

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Abstract

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a common psychiatric disorder in China, but its reported treatment rate varies largely across different studies. The objective of this meta-analysis was to determine the pooled treatment rate for people with MDD in China and its associated factors. Both English (PubMed, Cochrane Library, PsycINFO, Web of Science) and Chinese (Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure, WanFang and SinoMed) databases were searched from their commencement date to November 13, 2018. Epidemiological studies that reported the treatment rate of MDD were included and synthesized using a random effects model. Fifteen studies covering 609,054 participants were included. The pooled treatment rate for MDD in China was 19.5% (95% CI: 10.7%–28.4%). Among the 15 studies, 9 reported the number of patients who received treatments in psychiatric hospitals with a pooled treatment rate of 5.2% (95% CI: 2.8%–7.5%). Meta-regression found that study quality (β = 0.131, P = 0.028) and male gender (β = 0.006, P = 0.039) were significantly associated with a higher treatment rate for MDD. In China, the treatment rate for MDD, particularly in psychiatric hospitals, was low. Effective public education and increasing access to mental health services will probably increase the number of people seeking and receiving treatment.

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Acknowledgements

The study was supported by the University of Macau (MYRG2015-00230-FHS; MYRG2016-00005-FHS), the National Key Research & Development Program of China (No. 2016YFC1307200), the Beijing Municipal Administration of Hospitals Incubating Program (No. PX2016028) and the Beijing Municipal Administration of Hospitals’ Ascent Plan (No. DFL20151801).

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  1. Han Qi, Qian-Qian Zong, Grace K. I. Lok, Wen-Wang Rao and Feng-Rong An contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders & Beijing Key Laboratory of Mental Disorders, Beijing Anding Hospital & the Advanced Innovation Center for Human Brain Protection, Capital Medical University, Xicheng District, Beijing, China

    Han Qi, Feng-Rong An & Qing-E Zhang

  2. School of Nursing, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China

    Qian-Qian Zong

  3. Unit of Psychiatry, Institute of Translational Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Macau, 3/F, Building E12, Avenida da Universidade, Taipa, Macao SAR, China

    Grace K. I. Lok, Wen-Wang Rao & Yu-Tao Xiang

  4. The University of Notre Dame Australia, Fremantle, Australia

    Gabor S. Ungvari

  5. Division of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia

    Gabor S. Ungvari

  6. Department of Psychiatry, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada

    Lloyd Balbuena

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  1. Han Qi
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Supplementary Figure 1

Funnel plot of the 15 studies reporting treatment rate of MDD (PNG 654 kb)

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Supplementary Figure 2

Sensitivity analysis of the 15 studies reporting treatment rate of MDD (PNG 946 kb)

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Qi, H., Zong, QQ., Lok, G.K.I. et al. Treatment Rate for Major Depressive Disorder in China: a Meta-Analysis of Epidemiological Studies. Psychiatr Q 90, 883–895 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11126-019-09666-9

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