title: Mood and anxiety disorders across the adult lifespan: a European perspective.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The World Mental Health Survey Initiative (WMHSI) has advanced our understanding of mental disorders by providing data suitable for analysis across many countries. However, these data have not yet been fully explored from a cross-national lifespan perspective. In particular, there is a shortage of research on the relationship between mood and anxiety disorders and age across countries. In this study we used multigroup methods to model the distribution of 12-month DSM-IV/CIDI mood and anxiety disorders across the adult lifespan in relation to determinants of mental health in 10 European Union (EU) countries.
  
  
  METHODS
  Logistic regression was used to model the odds of any mood or any anxiety disorder as a function of age, gender, marital status, urbanicity and employment using a multigroup approach (n = 35500). This allowed for the testing of specific lifespan hypotheses across participating countries.
  
  
  RESULTS
  No simple geographical pattern exists with which to describe the relationship between 12-month prevalence of mood and anxiety disorders and age. Of the adults sampled, very few aged ≥ 80 years met DSM-IV diagnostic criteria for these disorders. The associations between these disorders and key sociodemographic variables were relatively homogeneous across countries after adjusting for age.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Further research is required to confirm that there are indeed stages in the lifespan where the reported prevalence of mental disorders is low, such as among younger adults in the East and older adults in the West. This project illustrates the difficulties in conducting research among different age groups simultaneously.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Nursing & Health Research, University of Ulster, Coleraine, N. Ireland.
authors.forename: R D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: McDowell
authors.affiliation: Institute of Nursing & Health Research, University of Ulster, Coleraine, N. Ireland.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ryan
authors.affiliation: Psychology Research Institute, University of Ulster, Londonderry, N. Ireland.
authors.forename: B P
authors.initials: BP
authors.lastname: Bunting
authors.affiliation: Psychology Research Institute, University of Ulster, Londonderry, N. Ireland.
authors.forename: S M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: O'Neill
authors.affiliation: Health Services Research Unit, IMIM-Institut Hospital del Mar d'Investigacions Mèdiques, Barcelona, Spain; CIBER en Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP), Spain; Department of Experimental and Health Sciences, Pompeu Fabra University (UPF), Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Alonso
authors.affiliation: Universitair Psychiatrisch Centrum - KU Leuven (UPC-KUL), KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bruffaerts
authors.affiliation: Netherlands Institute of Mental Health and Addiction, Utrecht, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: de Graaf
authors.affiliation: National School of Public Health, Management and Professional Development, Bucharest, Romania.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Florescu
authors.affiliation: Health Services Research Unit, IMIM-Institut Hospital del Mar d'Investigacions Mèdiques, Barcelona, Spain; CIBER en Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP), Spain.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Vilagut
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Saúde Mental, Faculdade de Ciências Médicas, Portugal.
authors.forename: J M C
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: de Almeida
authors.affiliation: IRCCS Centro S. Giovanni di Dio Fatebenefratelli, Italy.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: de Girolamo
authors.affiliation: Parc Sanitari Sant Joan de Déu, Universitat de Barcelona, CIBER en Salud Mental, Spain.
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Haro
authors.affiliation: National Center for Public Health Protection, Bulgaria.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hinkov
authors.affiliation: EHESP, EA4069, Université Paris Descartes, SPC France.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Kovess-Masfety
authors.affiliation: University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Matschinger
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Alexandrovsaka Hospital, Bulgaria.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tomov
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005060:Europe / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D014943:Global Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019964:Mood Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D013997:Time Factors; D055815:Young Adult