Juliette Gagliardi
Junior Researcher
Depression in Italy - Statistics & Facts
Depression is one of the most common mental disorders, affecting millions of people worldwide. Risk factors for depression can include personal traumas, stressful life events, medical conditions, medications, specific genetics, and brain chemistry. In 2022, around 27 percent of individuals aged 18-24 years worldwide were suffering from moderate to severe depression. Depression causes continuous feelings of sadness and loss of interest, leading people to have trouble with their ability to function in everyday life. Women are particularly prone to suffer from depression and symptoms of depression. As a matter of fact, between 2021 and 2022, the percentage of Italian women reporting symptoms of depression amounted to 8.2 percent, while 4.5 percent of men reported depressive symptoms. During the same period, the Italian region with the highest percentage of individuals reporting symptoms of depression was Sardinia, with 11.7 percent of adults aged between 18 and 69 years suffering from depression. One possible explanation for such a high rate is the frequent occurrence in Sardinia of autoimmune thyroiditis, especially among women, which is correlated with depressive disorders. The COVID-19 pandemic had a great repercussion on mental health, causing an extensive increase in the prevalence of anxiety and depression globally. In Italy, the percentage of people reporting symptoms of depression increased from 5.9 percent in 2019 to 6.7 percent in 2020.
Depression among elderly
Depression is very common among older people, as risk factors leading to depression such as poor physical health, social isolation, and loss, occur more frequently with aging. Between 2021 and 2022, the share of Italians aged 85 years and above experiencing symptoms of depression amounted to 13.6 percent. This group of people is also the one consuming the highest percentage of antidepressants among all people suffering from depression in Italy. As it is for the general population, also when considering solely the elderly, women are the ones suffering the most from depression and symptoms of depression. In Italy, 12.8 percent of women over 65 years, against 5.7 percent of elderly men, reported symptoms of depression between 2021 and 2022.Consumption and cost of antidepressants
The consumption rate of antidepressants in Italy has grown constantly since 2013, from 39 DDDs (daily defined doses) per 1,000 inhabitants to 45.8 DDDs per 1,000 inhabitants in 2022. At the same time, the average cost of antidepressants decreased, dropping from 0.53 euros per DDD in 2014 to 0.42 euros per DDD in 2022. Sertraline was the most consumed active ingredient for antidepressants in 2022 as well as the least expensive in Italy. Sertraline is currently also prescribed for other illnesses than depression, such as obsessive-compulsive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder.
