A new report has studied levels of depression across Europe and in older and younger people, prospects for France compared to a particularly poor appearance.
ADVERTISEMENTFrance may have had the highest level of pre-countryic depression among European countries, according to a new analysis of a 2019 health survey through the continent.
The analysis of the statistical branch of the Ministries of Health and the Social of France (DREES) revealed that the rate of depression in France was around 11% pre-countryic, which was the highest in any other European country .
The report was based on the data of the European Health Entry Survey, which is carried out every six years, and included some 300,000 people in the European Union, Norway, Iceland and Serbia.
It was the first time that the Drees used 2019 survey To measure depression and prevalence, was estimated on the basis of eight questions from the patient’s health.
The analysis examined “whether or not a person had suffered from depressive syndromes in the past two weeks on the basis of a series of criteria,” Health Lisa Troy, the study of the department of the department, told Euronews Health Lisa Troy research and international of international studies.
This comes when multiple studies have highlighted an increasing mental health crisis in the years that followed the COVVI-19 pandemic, especially among young people in France and other European countries.
The new DREES report has also focused on young people aged 15 to 24 and older aged 70 and over.
Jocelyne Caboche, Research Director emeritus in neuroscience Soroscience University Lab (Neuro-SU) of the National Center for Scientific Research (Neuro-SU), told Euronews Health only if she had no explanation for France by seeing A “relatively” higher “relatively” level of higher depression Compared to other countries, this could be due to an “accumulation of elements”.
“Although we are relatively well taken care of in terms of health and education, we still need significant efforts to take care of the elderly,” said Caboche, who has not been involved in the study.
She added that depression could improve with better investment in psychiatry and therapeutic innovation.
What factors contribute to depression in European countries?
Overall, the new analysis has shown that the highest levels of depression were in the countries of the North and the West.
But although depression is rare among young people in countries in southern and Eastern Europe, it is higher in people aged 70 and over in these countries, according to the report.
Depression rates exceeded 15% in the elderly in Portugal, Romania and Croatia, for example.
Elderly women were also more depressed than older men, according to survey data, and older Europeans in poor health were more prone to depression.
With more elderly Europeans reporting poor health in Eastern and South countries, this could explain the higher prevalence of depression, reports of the report said.
ADVERTISEMENT“For example, in Croatia or Latvia, where almost 40% of the elderly report poor health, the prevalence of depression is high: 16% and 9% respectively,” noted the authors of the report.
Being socially isolated and widow also seemed to have an impact on depression in the elderly.
For young Europeans, the highest depression rates were in Denmark, Sweden and Finland, followed by Western European countries. Depression in young people was lower in the countries of the East and South of Europe.
“I was impressed by the differences between the rate of depression between young people and the elderly in the countries of the Southeast (European) and conversely by the idea that young people were very depressed in (European countries of the European North) and that it is the only region where the elderly, depression has decreased by age, “said Troy.
ADVERTISEMENTIn countries with higher depression among young people, it was linked to social isolation, not to have professional activity or go to school and the level of income.
Caboche has added that social media can also play a role “by promoting harmful social comparisons, concerns about body image, especially in girls, reduction in sleep duration and increased cyber risk- harassment”.
Poor health in young people has also significantly increased the risk of depression by some 32 percentage points, according to the report.
He added that EHIS data can have limits, including differences in questionnaire methods on mental health problems between countries.
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