About 17 Percent Of VA Adults Have Been Diagnosed With Depression: CDC

VIRGINIA — A new federal report shows that about 17 percent of adults in Virginia reported in 2020 that they had been diagnosed with depression at some point in their life.

Researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education in Tennessee said the report, released June 16, is a call to public health leaders in Virginia to put resources where they’re most needed.

Nationally, 1 in 5 U.S. adults reported having received a diagnosis of depression at some point, but prevalence varied from 12.7 percent in Hawaii to 27.5 percent in West Virginia, according to the report. Big differences were found within states, the researchers said.

The report is based on data from the CDC’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, with a special focus on how nearly 400,000 adults in all 50 states and Washington, D.C., responded to a question about whether they had ever been diagnosed with a depressive disorder by a doctor, nurse or other health professional.

Among Virginia residents who reported having received a diagnosis of depression, 17.2 percent reported showing signs of depression, on average.

Data at this level can guide public health officials in targeted efforts to address mental health in their communities, the report said.

“Population-level efforts to address prevention, treatment, and management of depression include tailored and targeted programs to address demographic and geographic disparities,” the researchers said.

The researchers noted large geographic differences in the prevalence of depression, and said the higher rates could reflect the prevalence of chronic conditions such as diabetes, arthritis and cardiovascular diseases, as well as income levels, poverty rates, education levels and access to health care.

Women reported the highest prevalence of depression, with 24 percent reporting a diagnosis, compared to 13.3 percent of men. Depression prevalence among younger adults ages 18-24 was 21.5 percent, compared to 14.2 percent in people 65 and older. The report also noted the prevalence of depression was higher among white adults and adults who hadn’t graduated from high school.

Those findings about the prevalence of depression in women and young adults mirror those in a recent Gallup poll measuring depression that found steadily increasing depression rates “jumped notably” during the pandemic and that “social isolation, loneliness, fear of infection, psychological exhaustion (particularly among front-line responders such as healthcare workers), elevated substance abuse and disruptions in mental health services have all likely played a role.”

Overall, nearly 30 percent of U.S. adults had been diagnosed with depression at some point in their lifetime, up nearly 10 percentage points from 2015.

The poll, released in May, also found that the percent of U.S. adults currently receiving treatment increased to 17.8 percent, up about 7 points over the same period. Both rates were the highest since Gallup began measuring depression.