PHOM Indicator Profile Report of Depression: Adult Prevalence

Why Is This Important?

Approximately 21.0%* of adults in the U.S. experienced some kind of mental illness during 2020^1^. Mental disorders like depression and anxiety can affect people's ability to take part in healthy behaviors. Similarly, physical health problems can make it harder for people to get treatment for mental disorders. Increasing screening for mental disorders can help people get the treatment they need^2^. Approximately 8.4% of adults suffered from at least one episode of major depression in 2020^3^. Major depression is defined as having severe symptoms that interfere with a person's ability to work, sleep, study, eat, and enjoy life. Symptoms of major depression may include fatigue or loss of energy, feelings of worthlessness or guilt, impaired concentration, loss of interest in daily activities, appetite or weight changes, sleep changes, and recurring thoughts of death or suicide. Despite the availability of effective treatments for major depression, such as medications and/or psychotherapeutic techniques, it often goes unrecognized and untreated.^4^[[br]] [[br]] ---- 1. National Institute of Mental Health. ''Any Mental Illness (AMI) Among U.S. Adults''. Retrieved from [https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/mental-illness.shtml] on October 18, 2022. [[br]] 2. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. ''Healthy People 2030''. With Understanding and Improving Health and Objectives for Improving Health. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, November 2000 [https://health.gov/healthypeople/objectives-and-data/browse-objectives/mental-health-and-mental-disorders].[[br]] 3. National Institute of Mental Health. ''Major Depression Among Adults''. Retrieved from [https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/prevalence/major-depression-among-adults.shtml] on October 18, 2022. [[br]] 4. National Alliance on Mental Illness Retrieved from [http://www.nami.org/Learn-More/Mental-Health-Conditions/Depression] on October 18, 2022.

Data Notes

The question asks about lifetime diagnosis and does not reflect current major depression.   [[br]] [[br]] Age-adjusted to the 2000 U.S. standard population. [[br]] Age-adjustment groups were 18-24, 25-34, 35-44, 45-64, 65+.

Risk Factors

Utah adults who reported chronic illnesses and/or poor health status in general, were also more likely to have reported having ever been told they had a depressive disorder. It is known that behavioral health problems often co-occur with chronic diseases and may exacerbate poor health outcomes.

How Are We Doing?

In Utah, adult women (34.3%) had significantly higher rates of doctor-diagnosed depression than men (18.1%) in 2022 (age-adjusted rates). Combined years 2020-2022 Utah data showed the following: * Hispanic (19.6%), Asian (12.6%), and Pacific Islander (13.5%) adults reported lower lifetime depression than the state rate. * Adults with a household income less than $25,000 (36.3%), those with a household income $25,000-$49,999 (28.3%), and those with a household income of $50,000-$74,999 (27.1%) had significantly higher rates of lifetime doctor-diagnosed depression, while adults with an income greater than $75,000 (20.9%) had lower rates of lifetime depression. * Depression also varied by education. Utah adults aged 25 and above with some post high school education but not a college degree (27.1%) had a higher rate of doctor-diagnosed depression compared to the state while Utah adults aged 25 and above with a college education (20.1%) had a lower rate of doctor-diagnosed depression. * Adults in TriCounty (19.9%) Wasatch (18.1%), and Summit County (17.7%) local health districts reported lower rates of doctor-diagnosed depression than the state rate. Davis County (26.5%), Tooele County (30.0%) and Weber-Morgan (27.7%) had a rate significantly higher than the state rate. * Among Utah Small Areas, Brigham City (31.9%), Ogden (Downtown) (33.7%), South Ogden (32.9%), Clearfield Area/Hooper (29.6%), Magna (32.1%), South Salt Lake (33.7%), Murray (32.2%), Tooele Valley (30.2%), and Carbon County (30.2%) had higher rates of doctor-diagnosed depression than the state rate. Weber County (East) (18.7%), Herriman (18.8%), Park City (15.5%), Wasatch County (18.1%), Daggett and Uintah County (17.9%), and San Juan (Other) (13.7%) had lower rates than the state rate.

What Is Being Done?

The Utah Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Substance Use and Mental Health (OSUMH) facilitates the Utah Suicide Prevention Coalition. OSUMH grants funds to five local health or mental health authorities to design and implement comprehensive suicide prevention, intervention and postvention services. Comprehensive suicide prevention activities include promoting mental health resources and help-seeking behavior, distributing gun locks to reduce access to lethal means, development of community postvention plans, and training the community in suicide prevention using evidence-based/promising practice programs such as Question, Persuade, Refer (QPR), VitalCog (Workplace, Construction and Athletics), Mental Health First Aid, Safe and Effective Messaging for Suicide Prevention, and SafeTALK. These trainings promote knowledge and skill development for participants to recognize the warning signs of suicide, how to offer hope, and how to refer to resources and save a life. Additionally OSUMH grants funds to the remaining eight local health or mental health authorities to implement firearm/means safety programming within their areas. OSUMH also coordinates and funds many crisis services across the state, including 988 suicide and crisis lifeline, mobile crisis outreach teams (MCOT), stabilization and mobile response (SMR), and receiving centers.