Abstract
South Korea has one of the highest suicide rates among countries. However, the prevalence of depression in South Korea has been reported to be much lower than in other countries. The current study aims to estimate the prevalence of major depressive disorder using a large representative sample of the South Korean population. The prevalence of depression in a sampled population of one million individuals increased from 2.8% in 2002 to 5.3% in 2013; it was found to increase with the age of the population, and was higher in females than in males for most age groups. A Cox’s proportional hazard model showed that suicide risk was significantly higher in people with depression (hazard ratio [HR] 3.79, 95% CI 3.14–4.58) than those without depression. It was also significantly higher in older people (HR 1.52, 95% CI 1.36–1.70) than in younger people, and in males (HR 2.45, 95% CI 2.02–2.96) than in females. Furthermore, higher income groups were at lower suicide risk as compared to lower income groups (HR 0.88, 95% CI 0.80–0.95). This study using the large representative sample data provided evidence that increased prevalence of depression contributed to the increased risk of suicide in South Korea during the recent decade.
Highlights
South Korea has one of the highest suicide rates among countries
The change in the prevalence of depression diagnosis and history of antidepressant treatment (‘Dx and Mx’ group), and that of depression diagnosis or history of antidepressant treatment (‘Dx or Mx’ group), were similar to that of Dx group; the prevalence increased during the study period, with the exception of a minor temporary decrease in 2007 and 2013 in the ‘Dx’ and ‘Dx or Mx’ groups
The annual prevalence of depression as estimated by medical records of diagnosis increased during the study period, from 2002 to 2013
Summary
South Korea has one of the highest suicide rates among countries. the prevalence of depression in South Korea has been reported to be much lower than in other countries. The current study aims to estimate the prevalence of major depressive disorder using a large representative sample of the South Korean population. This study using the large representative sample data provided evidence that increased prevalence of depression contributed to the increased risk of suicide in South Korea during the recent decade. Despite the high suicide rate, the prevalence of depression in South Korea has been reported to be much lower than in other countries. This study aimed to estimate the annual prevalence and incidence of major depressive disorder in the South Korean population over the last decade. To understand the influence of depression on suicidal mortality[22], we examined suicidal risk in populations both with and without depression
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