2.7. Prevalence of depression

As with atopic disorders (Konsensuslausuma 1998, Galil 2000), also depressive disorders (Galil 2000, Isometsä et al. 2000) are illnesses of major public health importance in many Western societies, Finland included. As reviewed by Lehtinen and Joukamaa (1994), according to population surveys conducted in different countries, the prevalence of clinically defined depression varies from 2.6% to 5.5% (mean 4.0%) and from 6.0% to 11.8% (mean 7.9%) in men and in women, respectively. In addition, the occurrence of depressive symptoms is far more common among both genders when compared with depressive disorders, their prevalence ranging from 18% to 34% and from 10% to 19% for females and males, respectively. Thus, both depressive symptoms and depressive disorders are among women about twice as common as in men. In the Mini Finland Health Survey, a study population (n = 8000) representative of the whole Finnish adult population, the mean prevalence of depression was 3.9% among males and 6.0% in females (Lehtinen & Joukamaa 1994).