title: Prevalence, treatment, and control of depressive symptoms in the United States: results from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), 2005-2008.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  depression remains a major public health problem that is most often evaluated and treated in primary care settings. The objective of this study was to examine the prevalence, treatment, and control of depressive symptoms in a national data sample using a common primary care screening tool for depression.
  
  
  METHODS
  we analyzed a sample of adults (n = 4836) from 2005 to 2008 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data. Depressive symptoms were assessed using the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) to determine the overall prevalence, rates of treatment, and antidepressant control of mild, moderate, moderately severe, and severe depressive symptoms.
  
  
  RESULTS
  of the sample, 20.1% reported significant depressive symptoms (PHQ-9) score, ≥ 5), the majority of whom had mild depressive symptoms (PHQ-9) score, 5-9). Even among individuals with severe depressive symptoms, a large percentage (36.9%) received no treatment from a mental health professional or with antidepressant medication. Of those taking antidepressants, 26.4% reported mild depressive symptoms and 18.8% had moderate, moderately severe, or severe depressive symptoms.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  despite greater awareness and treatment of depression in primary care settings, the prevalence of depressive symptoms remains high, treatment levels remain low, and control of depressive symptoms are suboptimal. Primary care providers need to continue to focus their efforts on diagnosing and effectively treating this important disease.
authors.affiliation: Morehouse School of Medicine, National Center for Primary Care, Atlanta, GA, USA.
authors.forename: Ruth S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Shim
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Baltrus
authors.forename: Jiali
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ye
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Rust
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000928:Antidepressive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001521:Behavior Therapy; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening; D008875:Middle Aged; D009749:Nutrition Surveys; D005791:Patient Care / Q000379:methods; D015995:Prevalence; D011594:Psychometrics; D011787:Quality of Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012307:Risk Factors; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D000928:Antidepressive Agents