Burden of mental health and substance use disorders among Italian young people aged 10\u201324\xa0years: results from the Global Burden of Disease 2019 Study

Simone Amendola

doi:10.1007/s00127-022-02222-0

Simone Amendola

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-022-02222-0

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Abstract

PurposeThe burden of mental health and substance use disorders among Italian young people have not yet been presented in detail, despite adolescents and young adults aged between 10 and 24 years constitute 14.5% of the Italian population. Therefore, the aim of this study was to provide data on the health burden of mental health and substance use disorders among young people (10–24 years) in Italy between 1990 and 2019.MethodsEcological study design using data from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019. Age- and sex-specific prevalence and years lived with disability (YLDs) of mental health and substance use disorders with the uncertainty intervals were reported as well as their percentual changes between 1990 and 2019.ResultsPrevalence and YLDs rates of mental health and substance use disorders showed negative trends overall between 1990 and 2019. However, diagnoses of attention-deficit/hyperactivity, autism spectrum, conduct and eating (among males) disorders increased as well as cocaine use disorder. The highest levels of disability in terms of YLDs were due to anxiety, depressive, conduct and eating disorders and alcohol use, amphetamine use and opioid use disorders. The disease burden was higher in middle-late adolescence and young adulthood than early adolescence, among females than males for mental health disorders and among males compared to females for substance use disorders.ConclusionFindings of the study highlighted disorder-specific patterns of prevalence and YLDs rates and were discussed considering previous research. The public health system should continuously sustain mental health promotion and prevention efforts in young people.

Highlights

The highest levels of disability in terms of years lived with disability (YLDs) were due to anxiety, depressive, conduct and eating disorders and alcohol use, amphetamine use and opioid use disorders
186.9 (95% UI 131.2–255.9) thousand of YLDs were attributed to mental health disorders among Italian young people with a rate of 2144 (95% UI 1506–2937) per 100,000 young people
A possible explanation for the results presented could be related to the high quality of the Italian health system that ensures universal coverage for their citizens [14] despite previous studies suggested that the use of health services was relatively scarce or unsatisfactory among Italian adults of the general population with mental health disorders [21–24], while there is a lack of data on Italian young people

Summary

Introduction

Adolescence is the life phase in which future patterns of adult psychophysical health are established [1]. Public health systems need to focus their attention on the promotion of mental and physical health of young people. Ballester et al [2] explored the age of onset of mental health disorders among 2118 Spanish university students. The authors showed that the age of onset of adult attention hyperactivity, mood and anxiety disorders, alcohol and drug. Causes of health loss and mortality among children and adolescents substantially improved in many countries between 1990 and 2017 [5]. The decreases in disease burden due to infectious, neonatal and nutrition associated causes have been followed by the increasing role of injuries and noncommunicable diseases, such as mental health and substance use disorders [6].

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