Weissman M M, Bland R, Joyce P R, Newman S, Wells J E, Wittchen H U
College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University, New York, NY.
J Affect Disord. 1993 Oct-Nov;29(2-3):77-84. doi: 10.1016/0165-0327(93)90025-f.
Rates of depression are compared by sex in epidemiologic surveys conducted in the United States, Canada, Germany and New Zealand. These surveys used similar sampling and diagnostic techniques and the data were standardized to the age and sex distribution of the USA to facilitate comparisons. Data show that the rates of major depression and dysthymia are higher in females than in males and are approximately equal for bipolar disorder across all four countries. The mean age of onset of major depression did not differ by sex across the four countries. The rates of major depression for males seem to be rising and for females stabilizing for birth cohorts born after 1945 (World War II). New data from the National Comorbidity Survey which has younger birth cohorts can directly examine this issue.
在美国、加拿大、德国和新西兰进行的流行病学调查中，按性别对抑郁症发病率进行了比较。这些调查采用了类似的抽样和诊断技术，并且数据已根据美国的年龄和性别分布进行了标准化处理，以方便比较。数据显示，在所有四个国家中，女性的重度抑郁症和心境恶劣障碍发病率均高于男性，而双相情感障碍的发病率在男女之间大致相等。在这四个国家中，重度抑郁症的平均发病年龄在性别上没有差异。对于1945年（第二次世界大战）以后出生的队列人群，男性的重度抑郁症发病率似乎在上升，而女性的发病率趋于稳定。来自全国共病调查的新数据涵盖了更年轻的出生队列人群，可以直接研究这个问题。
