This survey aims to investigate the prevalence, distribution, and medical treatment of depressive and anxiety disorder among people aged 18 and above in Henan province.

An epidemiological survey was conducted in 30 counties (cities and districts) of Henan province from November 2020 to March 2021. A total of 10 800 permanent urban and rural residents aged 18 and above were selected by the stratified multi-stage random sampling method. The Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) and Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7) were used for primary screening of depressive and anxiety disorders respectively. Then all participants were divided into high-, medium-, and low-risk groups based on the primary screening results. All participants in high-risk groups, 40% participants randomly selected in medium-risk groups, and 10% randomly selected in low-risk groups underwent a diagnostic procedure for depressive and anxiety disorder conducted by psychiatrists according to the 10th revision of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD-10). The adjusted prevalence, standardized prevalence, and 95%CI were calculated based on the number of patients diagnosed with depressive or anxiety disorders in the three risk groups in 12 months. The distribution of the prevalence of two mental disorders were compared using the chi-square test and Fisher′s exact probability test.

Among the 10 057 participants who completed the survey, 229 were diagnosed with depressive disorder and 412 with anxiety disorder. The 12-month standardized prevalence of depressive and anxiety disorder were 1.96% (95%CI=1.51%-2.32%) and 3.90% (95%CI=3.57%-4.23%), respectively. The prevalence rate was higher in populations living in rural areas, aged ≥60 years old, having a lower education level, having a lower monthly income, performing less regular exercise, having chronic disease, having poor physical health, and lack of mental health literacy. The treatment rates of patients with depressive and anxiety disorders were 32.8% (75/229) and 25.5% (105/412), respectively. The main reasons for non-seeking medical services were the unawareness that poor mental health status could be a disease and the consideration that mental health problems were not serious.

The prevalence of depressive and anxiety disorder in urban and rural residents of Henan province is lower than that in other provinces of China and the corresponding national data. These prevalence rates vary greatly among populations with different demographic characteristics. The treatment rate is still low in the current studied population.

Depressive disorder; Anxiety disorders; Prevalence; Crosssectional survey