Role of common mental and physical disorders in partial disability around the world.

Background: Mental and physical disorders are associated with total disability, but their effects on days with partial disability (i.e. the ability to perform some, but not full-role, functioning in daily life) are not well understood.

Early-life mental disorders and adult household income in the World Mental Health Surveys.

Background: Better information on the human capital costs of early-onset mental disorders could increase sensitivity of policy makers to the value of expanding initiatives for early detection and treatment. Data are presented on one important aspect of these costs: the associations of early-onset mental disorders with adult household income.

Methods: Data come from the World Health Organization (WHO) World Mental Health Surveys in 11 high-income, five upper-middle income, and six low/lower-middle income countries.

Parent psychopathology and offspring mental disorders: results from the WHO World Mental Health Surveys.

Background: Associations between specific parent and offspring mental disorders are likely to have been overestimated in studies that have failed to control for parent comorbidity.

Aims: To examine the associations of parent with respondent disorders.

Method: Data come from the World Health Organization (WHO) World Mental Health Surveys (n = 51 507).

Mental health care and out-of-pocket expenditures in Europe: results from the ESEMeD project.

Background: Most published data on out-of-pocket spending on mental health originate from the United States, where insurance payments for mental health have traditionally been much less generous than benefits for other health care services. Given the difference in the structure of health care funding in Europe, it is clearly important to obtain similar information on out-of-pocket expenditure in different European countries.

Aim Of The Study: To estimate out-of-pocket costs paid by people who receive mental health care in six European countries (Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Spain).

Measuring use of services for mental health problems in epidemiological surveys.

The use of services for mental problems is generally reported as being relatively low. However, the methods used for data collection in surveys may have influenced the quality of self-reported service use. This study compares the information on recourse to physicians for mental problems reported in different sections of a survey conducted in six European countries.

Association of childhood adversities and early-onset mental disorders with adult-onset chronic physical conditions.

Context: The physical health consequences of childhood psychosocial adversities may be as substantial as the mental health consequences, but whether this is the case remains unclear because much prior research has involved unrepresentative samples and a selective focus on particular adversities or physical outcomes. The association between early-onset mental disorders and subsequent poor physical health in adulthood has not been investigated.

Objective: To investigate whether childhood adversities and early-onset mental disorders are independently associated with increased risk of a range of adult-onset chronic physical conditions in culturally diverse samples spanning the full adult age range.

Cross-national comparisons of sex differences in opportunities to use alcohol or drugs, and the transitions to use.

Sex differences in opportunities to use alcohol or drugs, and transition to use, were investigated in 15 surveys, in 2001-2004 (Europe 6; Americas 3; Africa 2, Asia 3; Oceania 1). The paper focuses on 18-29 year olds (N = 9,873). The World Mental Health Survey Initiative oversaw the surveys; each country obtained its own funding.

Factors associated with use of psychiatrists and nonpsychiatrist providers by ESEMeD respondents in six European countries.

Objective: This study analyzed use of services from psychiatrists and other mental health professionals (psychologists, psychotherapists, counselors, and social workers) in six European countries.

Methods: Data were from respondents (N=8,796) to the European Study of the Epidemiology of Mental Disorders (ESEMeD), a cross-sectional survey (2001-2003) of a representative sample of noninstitutionalized adults in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Spain that was conducted via computer-assisted interviews with the Composite International Diagnostic Interview, version 3.0.

Prevalence and correlates of respiratory and non-respiratory panic attacks in the general population.

Background: Panic attacks are heterogeneous with regards to symptom profile. Subtypes of panic attacks have been proposed, of which the most investigated is respiratory panic attacks (RPA). Limited information exists about RPA in the general population.

Health status of the advanced elderly in six European countries: results from a representative survey using EQ-5D and SF-12.

Background: Due to demographic change, the advanced elderly represent the fastest growing population group in Europe. Health problems tend to be frequent and increasing with age within this cohort.

Aims Of The Study: To describe and compare health status of the elderly population in six European countries and to analyze the impact of socio-demographic variables on health.

Days out of role due to common physical and mental conditions: results from the WHO World Mental Health surveys.

Days out of role because of health problems are a major source of lost human capital. We examined the relative importance of commonly occurring physical and mental disorders in accounting for days out of role in 24 countries that participated in the World Health Organization (WHO) World Mental Health (WMH) surveys. Face-to-face interviews were carried out with 62 971 respondents (72.

Associations of serious mental illness with earnings: results from the WHO World Mental Health surveys.

Background: Burden-of-illness data, which are often used in setting healthcare policy-spending priorities, are unavailable for mental disorders in most countries.

Aims: To examine one central aspect of illness burden, the association of serious mental illness with earnings, in the World Health Organization (WHO) World Mental Health (WMH) Surveys.

Method: The WMH Surveys were carried out in 10 high-income and 9 low- and middle-income countries.

Including information about co-morbidity in estimates of disease burden: results from the World Health Organization World Mental Health Surveys.

Background: The methodology commonly used to estimate disease burden, featuring ratings of severity of individual conditions, has been criticized for ignoring co-morbidity. A methodology that addresses this problem is proposed and illustrated here with data from the World Health Organization World Mental Health Surveys. Although the analysis is based on self-reports about one's own conditions in a community survey, the logic applies equally well to analysis of hypothetical vignettes describing co-morbid condition profiles.

Early cannabis use and estimated risk of later onset of depression spells: Epidemiologic evidence from the population-based World Health Organization World Mental Health Survey Initiative.

Early-onset cannabis use is widespread in many countries and might cause later onset of depression. Sound epidemiologic data across countries are missing. The authors estimated the suspected causal association that links early-onset (age <17 years) cannabis use with later-onset (age > or =17 years) risk of a depression spell, using data on 85,088 subjects from 17 countries participating in the population-based World Health Organization World Mental Health Survey Initiative (2001-2005).

Comparing mental health of francophones in Canada, france, and belgium: 12-month and lifetime rates of mental health service use (part 2).

Objectives: To compare 12-month and lifetime service use for common mental disorders in 4 francophone subsamples using data from national mental health surveys in Canada, Quebec, France, and Belgium. This is the second article in a 2-part series comparing mental disorders and service use prevalence of French-speaking populations.

Methods: Comparable World Mental Health-Composite International Diagnostic Interviews (WMH-CIDI) were administered to representative samples of adults (aged 18 years and older) in Canada during 2002 and in France and Belgium from 2001 to 2003.

Comparing mental health of francophone populations in Canada, france, and belgium: 12-month prevalence rates of common mental disorders (part 1).

Objective: To compare the 12-month prevalence of common mental disorders among francophones in Canada, France, and Belgium. This is the first article in a 2-part series comparing mental disorders and service use prevalence of French-speaking populations.

Methods: This is a secondary analysis of data from the Canadian Community Health Survey: Mental Health and Well-Being (CCHS 1.

[Associations between early-onset mental disorders and educational attainment in Belgium; a population study].

Background: There is no sufficient knowledge on the association between early-onset mental disorders and subsequent school dropout on the level of the Belgian general population.

Aim: To investigate the associations between early-onset mental disorders and subsequent school dropout.

Method: As part of the European Study on the Epidemiology of Mental Disorders of the World Mental Health Surveys of the World Health Organization, a representative random sample of non-institutionalised Belgians aged 18 or older (n = 1,043) were interviewed between April 2001 and June 2002.

Dropping out of mental health treatment among patients with depression and anxiety by type of provider: results of the European Study of the Epidemiology of Mental Disorders.

Purpose: Dropping out from mental health treatment is a major problem because mental health treatments delivered for inadequate durations are ineffective. The aim of this study was to compare treatment dropout rates by type of provider, dropout risk by number of visit, and to ascertain factors associated with treatment dropout.

Methods: A cross-sectional household survey of a representative sample of 626 out of 21,425 non-institutionalized adults from the general population of six European countries was carried out.