Depression May Be World's Most Disabling Disease

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Depression needs to be recognized and treated as an urgent public health priority, Chatterji said. "Persons with physical illnesses should also be examined for depression and treated appropriately. Primary care providers must learn to recognize and manage concurrent physical illnesses and depression to reduce disease burden and improve population health," he added.

One expert hailed the findings.

"It is encouraging to see that results that we have been seeing from our country, from studies in the United States about the devastating effects of comorbid depression with other chronic illnesses, are replicable internationally," said David L. Shern, the president and CEO of the nonprofit advocacy group Mental Health America.

Depression is a huge public health issue, Shern said. "Continuing to have these inane debates about whether we should have insurance coverage for mental health care, in the light of data like these, is just silly," he said.

The study also highlights the need for integrated care and screening for depression, Shern said. "Practitioners need to be educated to look for depression, and consumers need to push their doctors to be aware of their depression," he said.

Depression is treatable, Shern noted. "That's one of the big stories of the last 20 years -- the development of pharmacological treatments that have broad scale effectiveness," he said. "There are psychosocial treatments, for people who don't want to take medication, that are just as effective," he said. "Combining the two is the preferred regimen."

More information

For more on depression, visit the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health.